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favourite shirts
perhaps one of the finer points of cycling is the knowledge that it won't be any different than it ever was. yes, you might be cycling in various differing environs, locations or landscapes, but the act of pedalling never really alters; it's still both feet on the pedals, both hands on the bars and bum on saddle. we really wouldn't have it any other way. actually if it was, it probably wouldn't be cycling, but even though continuous, daily pedalling will likely increase your stamina, strength and ability, at the end of the week, all will still be the same. if you see what i mean.
and so too, you would think, is the act of painting bicycles. unless the artist opts for one of the more obscure realms of pedalling, such as recumbents and their associated brethren, it will be double triangle, bars and wheels. this is not to suggest that there is no differentiation between the various makes of bicycle, though modern carbon does have a tendency towards ubiquity, but overall i think you get my drift.
taliah lempert, who has been featured more than once on the post (and not without good reason), is one such painter, a girl whose daily grind so to speak, consists of presenting herself, canvas and paints in front of an endless array of bicycles. and in similar fashion to the improvements experienced by ourselves experienced by regular pedalling, ms lempert's paintings have exhibited a similar, if not greater degree of improvement over the past
few years. such is her notoriety in new york and beyond for this bicycle related painting prowess, that ownership of a taliah lempert bicycle painting is akin to having a robert millar signed peugeot jersey on the upstairs wall.
but it is my contention that the world's finest artists are the ones who are unafraid to experiment and to ride off at a tangent, rather than settling into a groove, or as they like to say in cyclocross circles; a rut. i can think of more than a few artists who have accepted their fame as a way to a comfortable income, and who can really blame them for that? however, taliah seems driven in the way that many cyclists are, and has an uncanny knack for lateral thinking, painting and printing, an individual propensity that has seemingly paid dividends. japanese sportswear firm ccp.fm have seen fit to license several of her multi-bike print images and place them on rather fine shorts and caps.
"just, this morning, i sent a giant tube with ten paintings to tokyo, hopefully will send a bunch more, and likely head over there myself in february."
i have owned, in the past, several t-shirts bearing screen printed images from cycle paintings on the front, most of which have been less than successful. paintings are best seen in a frame hanging on a wall; very rarely does the application of such to a cotton t-shirt gain much success, either commercially or visually. however, having acquired some photos of the shirt designs from tokyo (which accompany this article), these are of a different order altogether. tokyo fixed gear in london stock products from ccp, and are willing to order any of these garments on request. quite frequently, artists who begin to experiment and push boundaries - either ours or theirs - move wildly outside the mainstream and thus limit the appeal of their work, unless, of course, you have a penchant for experimental art. taliah, on the other hand has moved decidedly left of field, yet each stage seems more attractive than its predecessor: it's art pablo, but not necessarily as we know it. in this way, it has become possible to not only acquire a piece of bicycle art, but to wear it in public too.
"when i first got interested in printmaking, i wanted to develop it as derivative from my painting, while being a unique, stand alone body of work. i think it does that, though it does take time from my painting, but both the painting and the printmaking inform and enrich each other.
lately I've been concentrating mostly on the printmaking"
if you are not one who understands any of the more rustic of artistic methods, taliah has produced a fine timelapse movie of how she achieves the multi-bike print designs that she's been working on over the past couple of years, using a hand operated blanket press.
posted sunday 25 october 2009
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