15 minute read
FreeWheeling: The Artists
FreeWheeling
The Artists
Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown from Troy, Ohio, works in oil on canvas. Daniel started playing with cars in the early 2000’s when he was at Goshen College in Indiana. He purchased a 1967 Firebird Convertible, which was in such bad shape it had to be pushed into the garage with a front-end loader. The time spent rebuilding the car with his friend inspired him to be an artist.
AutoExpressionist.com Instagram: @autoexpressionistDanielBrown
Bobbie Crews
Bobbie Crews’ paintings bring out the human element in her subject, focusing on the connections between us and our material possessions. She’s been working as an automotive artist since 2009. She is known for her “intimate portraits of automobiles,” showing her work in Concours d’Elegance automobile shows as well as museum exhibitions focusing on the automobile as fine art.
Her perspective is centered on capturing the character and the story within the subject and is said to favor a “Rubinesque” perspective in her automotive work. It’s an especially feminine and unusual viewpoint. Crews lives and works in Knoxville, Tennessee.
BobbieCrews.com Instagram: @bobbiecrews
Shan Fannin
Shannon “Shan” Fannin was born in Long Beach, California. She earned a college scholarship to pursue an art teaching degree for special needs children. However, life had other plans. She put becoming an artist on hold for marriage, a career in marketing, owning a business, and raising a family. Using her portfolio for a resume, she taught elementary school art for two years through a private academy. After a 25 year hiatus from an art career, Shan returned to school to refresh her abilities. She took a handful of courses to reacquaint herself with mediums, and began building her expressionistic style. Her favorite courses were figurative life drawing. From the artist: Who are we when no one is looking? What is our history?
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Most of us go about our lives often concealing our inner selves from the world. One indication of our true personality is the vehicle we drive and/or dream of someday owning. To me, what we drive are more than appliances to get us from Point A to B – they are mobile sculptures that reflect who we truly are. They give a hint of our cultural background, financial status, and personality. By interviewing owners, photographing, and then painting these vehicles, I capture a bit of these personalities onto canvas. I create visual stories of: that first motorcycle in high school, the classic family car that was driven on vacations, or the Italian sports car that we dream of owning. Vehicles are a subject that we can all relate to. No matter our differences, we all have a story that revolves around a car, motorcycle, or airplane.
ShanFannin.com Instagram: @shanfannin
Allan Gorman
Allan Gorman is a realistic artist with a history that includes over 100 exhibition showings in museums, galleries and major art fairs including: Hyperrealism at The Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago; Re-Presenting Realism at the Arnot Art Museum (Elmira, NY), ArtPrize7 and ArtPrize8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan: The ArtHamptons Art Fair; Art Palm Springs; Art Palm Beach; The International Guild of Realism’s Masterworks Traveling Museum Tour; Something More Than Realism at Galeria ArteLibre in Zaragosa, Spain; Industrialism in the 21st Century at the Nicole Longnecker Gallery; Luster – Realistic and Hyperrealistic Art of Automobiles and Motorcycles, which made its debut at the Daytona Beach Museum of Art & Science in March 2018. Gorman was awarded a Fellowship for Painting from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (2013). In 2011, he was awarded a resident fellowship to Vermont Studio Center and was invited back again in 2014 and 2018. In 2016, he was selected for a fellowship residency by the ESKFF Foundation at Mana Contemporary. Gorman’s work has been featured for four consecutive years in Arte Libre’s Arty Libertad; Manifest’s International New Painting Annuals 2, 6 and 8; America Art Collector; Poets & Artists Magazine; Steadfast Arte Magazine; The Huffington Post; and dozens of other print and electronic publications. His art is also included in numerous corporate and private collections.
AllanGorman.com Instagram: @allangormanart
Lory Lockwood
Lory Lockwood is an artist who specializes in photorealistic automobile and motorcycle fine art. This contemporary style exudes a power of obsessive detail that focuses on chrome reflections, bright colors and abstract patterns. Lockwood’s interests range from vintage, exotic, and classic auto manufacturers like Rolls Royce, Bentley, and Mercedes Benz to motorcycle manufacturers such as Harley-Davidson, Gilera and custom choppers. Her exquisitely detailed oil paintings are inspired by visits
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to Daytona Bike Week, Laguna Seca Historic Races and Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
LoryLockwood.com Instagram: @lorylockwoodart
Dan McCrary
It was inevitable that Dan McCrary would become an automotive artist.
He was born in 1949 in Raleigh, North Carolina. By the mid1950’s, his lifelong passion for cars was being fueled by weekly outings to a local speedway, and on the street the everyday passing of the exuberant designs of the 50s was adding all that much more fuel to the fire. All his childhood drawings were of cars – no planes, boats, people – nothing but cars!
During his teen years, Dan and some of his gearhead friends took up guitars, and this started a parallel foray into the life of a musician. Interspersed with college years and two years in the Army, this lasted until Dan was about 30, when the rigors of the road life began to wear thin. It was at this point that he took up the pursuit of automotive art in a serious way. His work began with a pretty straightforward “car portrait” approach, and over the years has evolved into the highly reflective (and sometimes rusty) sections of the automotive subject that he currently emphasizes. The many years of this single-minded pursuit of automotive fine art have led to many awards, and places in quite a few prominent private and corporate collections. His work has been published in such mainline automotive magazines as Road & Track, Street Rodder, Auto Aficianado, Hemmings Classic Car, and Automobile Quarterly, among others. Also, he has been a signature member of the National Watercolor Society for some 25 years, and he has also recently been invited to participate in an exhibit called International Watercolor Masters, to be held in 2022 in Shropshire, England. This event is bringing together 40 of the most prominent watercolor artists worldwide, and is quite an honor. From the artist:
There are endless artistic explorations to be discovered on, in, and about the automobile. Its surface is a limitless supply of contour and color; compositions to be isolated – painted in a realistic technique, yet abstract in the way that a section of chrome and pastel can be removed from its larger context and assume an aesthetic all its own. Reflected images of other vehicles or surroundings can play along the shape of a fender and take on the effects of a funhouse mirror.
In that uniquely American archive that is the “junk yard,” there are explorations of a different kind of mood; the irony of finding a once-proud luxury car, the pride and joy of days gone past now in a state of decay, has its own magnetism...plus, as an added “bonus,” the contrarian in me loves to stand on its head that notion held by polite society that an old car as nothing but an “eyesore”
dmccraryart.com Instagram: @dmccraryart
Richard Pietruska
As a member of the AFAS or Automotive Fine Arts Society, Richard Pietruska has won the prestigious Peter Helck Award for three years in a row, and numerous Athena Awards of Excellence at Pebble Beach. He is a highly
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respected professor at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and has been teaching for over 30 years. Many of his former students are the leading automotive designers in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His career as an automotive designer started early as a winner of the Fisher Body Craftsman Guild and he won a scholarship to study at the Art Center. There he received both a Bachelor of Science Degree in Automotive Design and a Masters of Fine Arts Degree. With a background in various media from paint to tapestries, his focus is now on automotive sculpture using techniques ranging from bronze casting, cast resin, fiberglass, stainless steel, plastics and whatever else that comes along that is new and exciting. These sculptures exhibit the dynamic fluid motion of the automobile while simplifying the basic design lines of some of the most exotic vehicles of the past and present. His work has been featured in various magazines including Road & Track, Automobile Magazine, The Robb Report, AUTOAficionado, Rosso Ferrari, The Star (Mercedes Benz Magazine), Showcase Magazine, Pilota, Octane Magazine and Garage Magazine.
rpmart.com Instagram: @richardpietruska
Chuck Queener
Chuck Queener, is a graphic designer and illustrator, known for his exciting and colorful paintings for the automotive and racing industries. He attended Art Center School (Art Center College of Design) in the mid-1960s. Specializing in publication design, he has held staff positions at Motor Trend, Road & Track, SKI Magazine, Automobile, and was Creative Director at TAM Communications for over 17 years. Chuck has designed numerous award-winning books: Salute to Ferrari by Louis Klemantaski & Jesse Alexander, A Champion’s View by Phil Hill, Phil Hill: A Driving Life, and Ferrari: Stories from Those Who Lived the Legend. As a graphic designer, Queener created the iconic logo for the Monterey Historic Automobile Races and produced its program for over 30 years. In 1987 he was asked by David E. Davis Jr. to redesign Automobile magazine and that was the launching pad for Queener Design. Since then, he’s designed numerous consumer and trade titles in a variety of fields. Currently he produces the event program for The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, which he has done since 1996.
His illustrations have appeared in Automobile, Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Road & Track, and many European publications. In 2006 David Bull Publishing released Chuck’s gold-medal-winning The Alphabet and the Automobile. He has produced five posters for Club Ferrari France, three for Jacques Swaters’ 40th anniversary in 1992, nine for the Amelia Island Concours and many others. Additionally, Chuck has been a judge at the National Magazine Awards for 17 years. Chuck’s clients have included BMW of North America, ELLE magazine, Ferrari North America, Hachette Filipacchi Magazines Inc., Louis Vuitton, New York Magazine, Rolex Watch U.S.A., Saab, Variety, and The Waldorf-Astoria.
QueenerDesign.com
FreeWheeling
The Artists
Ken Scaglia
Ken Scaglia was born and raised in Indiana. Growing up near cornfields and the Indy 500 led him to connect his love of drawing, cars, and fine details with degrees in technical illustration and visual communication from Purdue University. He later moved to Columbus, Ohio, to work in an architectural firm, providing graphic design for their marketing and presentation needs. The next stop on his journey took him to Yale University and their graduate program in graphic design. Graduating from Yale allowed Ken to seek out many freelance clients in publications, packaging, and corporate identity. He was able to discover his abilities as a college design instructor. His association with area colleges helped him refine his sense of design, color, and composition. All these experiences in the classroom informed Ken’s painting, which he originally re-discovered as a way to find some relaxation and revive memories of the comfort of studio painting. Ken states: “I had painted casually throughout my design career, but took to it in earnest in 2005 as a means to satisfy my interest in building my skills and seeking a particular vision for my work. I found some old slides of car parts I had taken from my time in Ohio. These translated into large canvases with a special intriguing view of automotive details and reflections.” From the Artist: I translate my interest and fascination with classic automobiles into compelling compositions. Each one relies on the principles of balance, value, and movement. They are not so much documents of a car in a particular moment as they are line compositions that satisfy my investigations of the edges of each painting. I enjoy the pursuit of finding new views of cars and new canvas proportions for a dynamic composition. Each painting is an opportunity to refine my skills of painting and seeing.
KenScagliaStudios.com Instagram: @kenscaglia
John Schaeffer
John Schaeffer is an award-winning and published artist who lives in La Grange, Texas, and is a member of the LUSTER
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Traveling Museum Exhibit of Realistic and Hyper Realistic Contemporary Automobile and Motorcycle Paintings. Recognized for his photorealistic acrylic paintings of automobiles, John’s goal is to create the illusion of depth on a two dimensional surface.
After a 35 year hiatus from painting, John rekindled his passion for painting in acrylics. Having been an abstract painter prior to his hiatus, John learned the value of composition and juxtaposing values. As a former drafting and photography teacher, John knows the value of the line and of shadows. John’s work is classical in nature although contemporary in subject matter. He still uses an underpainting process followed by multiple layers of transparent colors. John is a graduate of Texas State University with a BS in Commercial Art with post graduate work in Art Education. As an active member in the International Guild of Realism, he has been juried into the 12th, 13th, and 14th Annual International Juried Exhibitions.
JSchaefferArt.com Instagram: @johneschaeffer
Sue Steele Thomas
Sue Steele Thomas is an automotive artist from Roanoke, Virginia, working in gouache. With 35 years of experience, Sue likes to capture the essence of well-designed machines and explore their conceptual interaction with nature. SteeleThomasStudios.com Instagram: #suesteelethomas
Brian Tull
Brian Tull translates his own narrative of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s through his paintings. His subjects come from the past and present, from all things nostalgic. His strategically cropped compositions in oil and acrylic are sometimes confrontational and often feature the female figure as protagonist, giving you a subtle glimpse into the characters’ lives. Usually leaving you wondering what or who is beyond the edges. You might find yourself squinting to see what’s being reflected in the gleaming chrome in some of Brian’s pieces. More hints about the setting might be found by studying a car in the painting, or a woman’s dress, shoes, or jewelry; the color of her lipstick. His compositions can range from graphic-oriented realism to true photorealism using original staged photographs as source material. Staging the photograph for the painting reference is essential, as he rarely changes anything throughout the painting process. Everything must be period correct. Brian is pulled to photorealism because it allows the viewer to notice things they wouldn’ t notice in real time, especially with detailed, large-scale works. A painting freezes movement and reflections. Photorealism is a wellsuited vehicle for capturing moments that occur with little notice, but are nonetheless revealing in their narrative. The painting process forces the artist to look beyond the subject matter; to just let a face be a series of objects, or
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an object simply a block of color. In the end, the story will be seen and told.
From the Artist: My paintings are about making the acrylic, oil and brushes work. They’re about me constantly improving technique with an interest in composition, narrative, and technicalities. For you, realize the people and objects in my paintings are real; the stories they tell are up to you. Inspired by life, completed by faith.
BrianTull.com Instagram: @artistbriantull
Klaus Wagger
Klaus Wagger grew up in the Austrian Tirol, surrounded by mountains, cows and a surprisingly active motorsport scene, which included F1 drivers Gerhard Berger, Karl Wendlinger and local hero Franz Albert, who always seemed to run the noisiest and most exotic cars, leaving a deep impression on the small kid.
From drawing cars in his school exercise books, he graduated to a degree in Industrial Design, and a freelance career as designer and technical illustrator. As a compensation for the endless fiddling with details, he kept up painting race cars in his spare time, and to make good use of it, entered a competition to design a poster for the Mille Miglia in 2000. His spectacular study of a Mercedes SSK in full flight took first prize, and Wagger’s work has since been featured several times for the promotion of prestigious Italian events. He has also staged exhibitions in Brescia where the Mille Miglia traditionally starts and finishes. But it was at the Retromobile in Paris that his painting career really took off. Motoring art has always been a strong feature of this premier French show, and in 2002 Wagger’s bold style and vibrant brushwork were the talk of the show.
Retromobile has been the mainstay of his exhibition schedule ever since, although he has added places like Goodwood Revival, Festival of Speed and Techno Classica to that list over the years. Being voted into the prestigious Automotive Fine Arts Society in 2013 also makes him a regular exhibitor at the Pebble Beach Concours, and at Amelia Island. A contact through an Austrian Lotus collector unexpectedly led to him being commissioned to paint the poster art for the 2007 Daytona 500. He also rates the 2006 calendar he painted for the Carabinieri in Italy and the whole cultural experience that went with it, as one of his personal highlights. Realistic backgrounds don’t interest Wagger as he prefers to employ bold, abstract tones that focus on the main subject: Capturing the drama of the car. The noise and the speed. He also doesn’t like to sketch out compositions too much, as he feels it restricts the expressive route and the fresh approach. He prefers to put the background colors in quickly to set the mood, and then see the painting develop, surprises included.
