Comments on: Screw brushes (redux)

Screw brushes (redux)

allkindsoftime — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:24:35 -0800

Painting Lance Armstrong with a tricycle. (pretty self explanatory)

We first saw artist Phil Hansen here on the blue about a year ago, with the Bruce Lee example of his modern pointillism in motion. Also available back then was A Moment (which frankly reminds me of a certain previous question on the green). Since then, however, he's been busy. In addition to the Lance piece, Goodbye Art wrapped up this month. Jimi is also a pretty interesting piece.

By: k8t

k8t — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:28:26 -0800

He was featured on CNN International today!

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 04:32:20 -0800

(hint: that's the only channel I'm getting in English here in Ghana at the moment)

By: Clay201

Clay201 — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:30:35 -0800

Painting Lance Armstrong with a tricycle. It really would be much easier to use a brush.

By: Clay201

Clay201 — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:33:48 -0800

Damnit. Shoulda clicked on the link first. The phrasing was, amazingly, not inadvertent.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:53:11 -0800

> (pretty self explanatory) Not really. I was going to ask how Armstrong felt about getting run over by a tricycle.

By: diogenes

diogenes — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:16:24 -0800

He's having more fun than me.

By: seanmpuckett

seanmpuckett — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:24:14 -0800

I would be much more impressed if he'd not used masking. As it is, it's just kind of wanky.

By: Fuzzy Skinner

Fuzzy Skinner — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:07:12 -0800

I would be much more impressed if he'd not used masking. As it is, it's just kind of wanky. Yeah, it's really "stunt stenciling."

By: k8t

k8t — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:35:27 -0800

Feel ya allkindsoftime. It is our only English channel in Armenia too. But Daily Show International Edition is on. Woo!

By: Brockles

Brockles — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:35:57 -0800

I would be much more impressed if he'd not used masking Yeah, that was the point I stopped being interested. With masking, he may as well have just thrown the paint over it. But then he'd have been done a lot faster and had not twee gimmick to make people give a shit about his mediocre painting, I guess. But then, maybe art is more about using something to make people appreciate the painting. In that respect it was somewhat of a success. But the tricycle was so utterly tangential to the creation process that I find it a little disappointing. If he'd used it to actually make shapes and try and use it as a brush, that would have been fascinating.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:43:34 -0800

> I would be much more impressed if he'd not used masking. If the wheels are the best way to add a desired texture to the canvas, what's the problem with masking? Otherwise, you're complaining about a gimmick being this specific gimmick and not some other gimmick.

By: The Monkey

The Monkey — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:45:10 -0800

Well great that we now know what the haters think. I thought some of his work was great, the Armstrong piece is amongst the least of it.

By: flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:48:59 -0800

Yeah, cool... but... why?

By: Brockles

Brockles — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:53:40 -0800

Otherwise, you're complaining about a gimmick being this specific gimmick and not some other gimmick. Hmm. Not really. If a wheel was the best way of creating the desired texture, then fine. Use a wheel. That isn't a gimmick, that's technique. The tricycle is purely and simply a gimmick, as it is just being used as a quirky means to use a wheel. The masking prevents any relevance of the wheel being mounted to the trike as it completely removes any difficulty or character of being a trike - it may as well have been a hand held wheel. I don't think adding inconsequential gimmicks to attract attention particularly adds to the quality of the painting. It is very much like going halfway, to me. I'd love to see a painting done using a trike, but not one where a trike is used to replace a spray gun and masking technique. It seems very much like not going the whole hog and putting the whole effort in, to me.

By: Solon and Thanks

Solon and Thanks — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:03:28 -0800

I agree that it was gimmicky, but the tire tracks look nice and are noticeable - and if you're going to use a wheel, why not have some fun and get some free publicity by using a tricycle?

By: nosila

nosila — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:45:50 -0800

This was supposed to be funny. (See the wiping of sweat from the brow after the first layer or two.) Lighten up! There's plenty of technically astounding art out there, and this doesn't detract from it in the slightest. A little whimsy never hurt anyone. (I'm talking to myself too...I immediately tried to hate on it when I realized he taped it off.)

By: Brockles

Brockles — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:04:56 -0800

I realise the humour element, and I really couldn't be further removed from any sort of art lover - it mostly leaves me cold/unmoved. But the idea of a painting done with a tricycle was so cool, that to see such a fuss made of something where all the mental imagery I had of intricate tricycle movements producing anything like a recognisable image were so utterly destroyed by the masking off 'cheat' that I think it was mostly through abject disappointment that 'I iz a hater'.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:15:49 -0800

I would be much more impressed if he'd not used masking. Who? Lance?

By: skyper

skyper — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:17:23 -0800

The tricycle is purely and simply a gimmick...it may as well have been a hand held wheel My familiarity so far with this artist is that the medium used for each portrait is supposedly linked somehow to something pertaining to the portrait's subject (i.e. a cycle for rendering a well-known cyclist; matchsticks for the Hendrix; fist-punching with ink-covered hands for the Bruce Lee, etc.). But my favorite so far doesn't seem to have a direct association at first, until you hear/view his recorded explanation: "Hark, eBay shoppers: Virgin Mary turned up in my PBJ!"

By: gorgor_balabala

gorgor_balabala — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:08:22 -0800

My watch stopped 15 minutes ago

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:37:44 -0800

Gimmicky Gimmicky Gimmicky What art isn't gimmicky, on a basic level?

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:49:00 -0800

I would be much more impressed if he'd not used masking. Who? Lance? See, this is funny. It's a pun. Lance = acused of doping but never proved, and a masking agent can be used to, uh, mask the presence of other performance enhancing drugs. I laughed.