bike art

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show is wrapping up in Richmond Virginia, and there’s plenty of web coverage for those of us monitoring it from afar. Cycelicious is providing full daily coverage, including videos. Urban Velo is there too, taking amazing images. There’s also a Flickr pool full of images. (Note to photographers – if you are putting your event-coverage images into a pool, please consider CC-licensing them for us bloggers.)

Shamrock Cycles front rack. CC-licensed image by Flickr user Sleepyneko.

In honor of the show, I thought I would feature this nice little video of ANT Bicycles founder and builder Mike Flanigan discussing his process and the history of his shop.

A freak bike t-shirt from Etsy seller DarkCycleClothing in honor of this week’s t-shirt contest. Leave a comment anywhere on Bikejuju before March 7 and be entered to win a t-shirt! (Not this one)

Previous Bikejuju freak bike posts.

A funny thing happened on Christmas. Without consulting each other, my wife, parents, and sister-in-law all bought me bicycle-themed t-shirts. Bike t-shirts are cool! Part of the reason I got so many is that when I see one I like on the web, I add it to my wish list. A list that made the rounds before Christmas, apparently.

Here are some great bicycle t-shirt designs. If you have other faves, post a link in the comments!

CottonFactory sells this groovy shirt design called All Hail The Wheelie King for just $9.99, and the cog-centric design the machine ($21.99) as well as several other bike designs.

Portland’s awesome Microcosm Publishing offers a plethora of fantastic stuff including the Aaron Renier-designed chainring heart shirt ($12) and the Joe Biel-designed evolution shirt ($12).

If you passion lies more in the direction of Africa, and bicycles as tools of empowerment and economic liberation, consider supporting the Bamboo Bike Project ($25) or Kona’s Afribike project ($15).

But enough of that – we need more headless hipsters! Etsy seller DarkCycleClothing has a variety of cycle designs including these aquatic peddlers ($18.00) in their Etsy shop.

I’ve always loved this bikefish design ($18), which PedalPushersClub calls “By far the most popular shirt in our esteemed history.” And since it was announced today that the Hummer brand will be dissolved, this shirt seems especially appropriate!

Several vendors sell t-shirts of Posada’s print Calaveras en Bicicleta including Zuni Treasures and Sol Imports ($17.99) though I think this simple image of a skeleton from RedMolotov (£14.99) is also neat.

Or maybe you’d rather just keep it simple, with this penny farthing ($12) from Etsy seller TheBoldBanana, or fixie from the imaginatively-named FixedGearShirts.com ($19.99).

And finally, the free stuff!

Baltimore-based designer and screen printer Matt runs an online shirt emporium called Ex-Boyfriend and carries this design he calls, simply, bike love ($24). Matt’s a Bikejuju reader and he was kind enough to offer a free shirt as a contest prize. And not just this bike love t-shirt, either! The winner can choose from any of his designs at ex-boyfriendcollection.com.

Winners will be selected randomly from the comments made on Bikejuju between now and March 7. So leave a comment on any post, anywhere on the blog, with a working e-mail address, and I’ll announce a winner on March 8. Good luck!

Phenomenal bicycle photographer Matt Lingo has posted a black and white photo story called “Alex’s Cuevas.” In fourteen images it conveys the story of his friend Alex while rebuilding a new Cuevas bike after a hit-and-run totaled his previous hand-built Cuevas frame.

I also love this image Matt posted earlier in January.

Beautiful, evocative work, Matt! Keep it coming!

Los Angeles artist Spencer Starr asks, “Is there really a greater man-made machine more deserving of homage than the bicycle?”

Spencer pays that homage working in light-colored chalk on small hand-made black chalkboards, drawing precise monochrome likenesses of wheeled, human powered transportation devices, including bicycles, tricycles, wagons and more. Chalk Chalk’s Etsy shop offers original pieces (sealed with acrylic fixatif), and open edition prints made from the original pieces.

I asked him to describe a few influences on his work.

I love clean lines in any art form–which is part of my challenge working with chalk, getting clean lines (sometimes I manage to succeed). My friend and framebuilder Tom Schoeniger of 4130, Inc inspires me to no end. Photographer Edward Burtynksky. Charles and Ray Eames. Rich Jacobs. Mike Giant. Basquiat is a big one. Vernon Courtland Johnson. Lance Mountain. My highschool art teachers Don Budy and Charles Thies. Highschool classmates and brothers Billy and Jesse McMillin. And my wife Sharon. And anybody that creates….

Do you ride?

I do ride! I actually came to cycling very late having grown up skateboarding and being slightly “out of step” with the rest of the fam’s cycling. Riding is great save for all the cars and their drivers in LA. I try to run as many errands as I can by bike–which is so much more time efficient in my neighborhood than driving, parking, driving, parking…. One of my most regular errands is to the post office to get all of our Etsy orders shipped–if the post office isn’t busy and I don’t need to wait in line, I can get there and back in about 25 minutes. By car, it would be a minimum of 45!

I relish any chance I get to ride, but I particularly love late night coffee runs, farmer’s market trips, and burrito missions. If I’m riding with the wife, we generally ride La Ballona Creek to the beach and then South to the beach cities (she doesn’t fancy riding in traffic and I hardly blame her)! I sometimes go mountain biking too. I always love it when I go, despite the difficulty in LA of putting the bikes on the car rack and driving to the trailhead. I’ve gotta get over that though as we do have some great trails and mountain passes in Southern California.

I’ll also take my track bike to the Velodrome at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson. Since I have a custom 4130 Track Bike, I felt like it was my responsibility to learn to ride at the Velodrome. Ohmygosh, it’s so fun! Doing sprints from the top corner down is such a rush. I think the corners are almost 45º and you have to maintain a speed of 15MPH or you’ll literally slide down the embankments and crash. Any cyclists in Southern Cali who’ve never been should definitely try to go watch a race there. The space is absolutely gorgeous and is somewhat of an architectural wonder. Admittedly I’m a little biased.

Are there other artists working on bicycle-themed art that you think we should be aware of?

Ohmygosh, there’s so many, but probably my favorite is Mike Giant. Of course, all independent frame builders, but especially Tom from 4130. My cousin Elon. Massan. James Newman. Xvelo Designs. DNTX.

Thanks Spencer! You can buy Spencer’s work through his Etsy shop.

Spencer working in his studio with his ever-present assistant, Squeak.

A while ago Bikejuju guest poster Jeff Stracco shared a great set of images of the utility trikes of Beijing.

Filipino-American designer Jonathan Igharas has taken inspiration from tricycles like those in his design for a a mobile A/V unit called the Ant A/V Trike.

Inspired by bicycle and tricycle cultures worldwide, the Ant AV Tricycle was conceptualized to become both a vehicle and platform for urban communication and interaction, and a method to alter and transcend common perceptions associated with current pedal powered mobility and transportation.

By appropriating a utility tricycle from Beijing and re-introducing it into the context of contemporary urban street culture, this music inspired trike enables DJs and VJs to freely roam city streets and meander through the narrowest of alleyways.

Powered by a rechargeable marine battery and a power inverter, the Ant AV Tricycle is designed to house the essential audio/visual equipment to create sensory-filled social interventions and use public space as a play space.

Sliding rails allow for quick deployment and easy access to the platform contained within, making it possible to move from one location to the next without additional, repetitive setup. A side-access storage cabinet provides a space to store extra wires and other miscellaneous items.

Via the charming blog For The Love of Bikes, via NotCot. Thematically related to Made in Queens.

Tim Woody submitted this image to the Bikejuju Dark Days photo contest, and it seems like the perfect way to inaugurate a new Bikejuju feature: Freak Bike Fridays! (Inspired by, but not to be confused with GoMeansGo’s ever-wonderful Penny Farthing Fridays).

Previous freak bike posts:

• Velopunk Adventuring On Tallbikes Through Indonesia
• 1952 Freak Bike
• Bikes of Burning Man 2009

Philadelphia illustrator, artist, and screenprinter Sara Selepouchin markets her unique work under her studio name, Girls Can Tell. With the tagline “diagramming everyday machines onto everyday things,” Sara’s work includes bicycles, of course, but also typewriters, kitchen mixers, garden tools, kitchen utensils, sewing machines, and even the human heart – all diagrammed in a style that evokes both the precision of an engineer and the quirkiness of a zine-publisher. Sara lovingly hand silkscreens her designs onto tea towels, oven mitts, industrial felt coasters, notebooks, and more. But not t-shirts. Mostly not t-shirts.

Black tandem on grey felt coasters.

Blue brain diagram tea towels.

Tandem tea towels.

I asked Sara about why bicycles appeared as a theme in her work and she told me,

Bikes are pretty amazing to me. When considering great “everyday machines” to draw up as diagrams, bikes just seem like an obvious choice – they have so many interesting pieces and moving parts, so they’re a great design for my work. Also, I love that you can build a bike to your exact specifications, so it’s a really personal machine while being really classic.

Sara’s a mixte rider, and not surprisingly, she’s in love with her bike.

I love my bike – my boyfriend built it for me as a gift and I adore it. It’s a great older Fuji mixte frame, and he added great little touches that I love, like cork grips on the handlebars and a really lovely, honey-colored Brooks saddle that suits me perfectly.  I ride to my studio (whenever I don’t have too much stuff to bring there) and for fun when the weather’s nice. Here in Philly, it’s exciting that bike activists are, slowly but surely, gaining traction and more bike lanes are being built throughout the city.

Sara's bike, serving as a makeshift drying rack in her studio.

Like the good post-millennial crafter that she is, Sara has a website, a blog, an online store, and Flickr stream, and even sells her work in bricks-and-mortar boutiques too. And she gets lots of extra points for organizing the craft boutique at last year’s 7th Annual Philadelphia Bike Part Art Show. And, crafty entrepreneur that she is, Sara also says, “I’ll be working on a few new bicycle themed diagram designs this spring, so please do check back!”

I plan to feature a lot more bicycle-themed art on Bikejuju in 2010 (email me if you have ideas of artists I should profile).

Let’s start with artist Christopher Elsasser, who makes these cool light boxes out of found images, his custom designs, and old X-rays. What caught my eye, of course, was this one:

Christopher’s site is Munstre.com, but I found him on SupermarketHQ.com where this light box is $95.

We have photo contest winners!

First, thanks to all the amazing photographers who submitted bicycle-themed nighttime images, and thanks again to the great sponsors Planet Bike and Bikeglow who provided prizes. Ryan from GoMeansGo and I finally managed to settle on winners, after looking long and hard at all the entries.

The winner of the Planet Bike winter commuter package, which was selected by the staff at Planet Bike, is Mark Magnussun.  For his photo Düsseldorf Winter Landscape Mark wins a set of Cascadia fenders, a mini pump, a Blaze 2W or Blaze Dynamo headlight, a SuperFlash rear light, and a saddle bag with tire levers and patch kit. (Let that be a lesson to you: next year submit a photo with an umlaut in the title!)

Ryan and I chose Tim Kainu as having submitted the best overall images – we disagreed slightly on which was our favorite, but heartily agreed that he was tops overall. Tim wins a nice prize package worth over $100 – a Bikeglow unit, a Planet Bike Blaze 2 watt LED headlight, and a Planet Bike Superflash Stealth rear blinkie light.

For the best Northwest image, the prize goes to Robin, aka Ray Tracing who submitted some great shots from two Seattle nighttime photo shoots done for the contest. Robin wins a full prize package – a Bikeglow unit, a Planet Bike Blaze 2 watt LED headlight, and a Planet Bike Superflash Stealth rear blinkie light.

And for most creative image, the prize goes to this awesome long exposure that was submitted by Twin Cities Brightest very early in the contest. Twin Cities Brightest also wins a Bikeglow unit, a Planet Bike Blaze 2 watt LED headlight, and a Planet Bike Superflash Stealth rear blinkie light. If anyone will put lights to good use, it’s him!

But that’s not all! Planet Bike was kind enough to throw even more lights in the box they sent me, so Ryan and I chose a few more winners.

There were lots of “in motion on the street” shots submitted, of those we chose this ghostly commuter image from Ken Kraft as the winner of a Planet Bike Spok micro blinkie.

Sweendo gets a Planet Bike Superflash Stealth for his creative Northwest submissions that were close runners up in several categories.

DPJ gets a Planet Bike Spok micro blinkie for the great images submitted.

If Flickr user Carol Torres in Sao Paolo can come up with a USA address for me to mail it to, she can get a Planet Bike Spok micro blinkie for her photo from Amsterdam.

And finally, because we ran out of prizes long before we ran out of great photos, Flickr user Cosmicmotionstudios gets our last Planet Bike Spok micro blinkie.

Thanks again to everyone who participated! Your photos are all amazing.

Winners: I am trying to reach you, but if you see this first, email juju@bikejuju.com with your mailing address (US or Canada only), and if you are Tim, Ray or TCB, state your order of preference for a blue, red or white Bikeglow unit, and for a black or white Planet Bike Blaze. First folks to express a preference will get priority, and I’ll give up on contacting all winners by late January and give any leftover prizes away in future contests.

The Dark Days are ending and the days are getting longer! Happy holidays! Bikejuju will be on hiatus till 2010. (But meanwhile you can also see my photos of a pretty blue Chinese Phoenix bike in Ethiopia).