Spent the entire weekend (nearly 40 hours) assembling the motor for the Track Roadster - an 8BA fitted out like an early postwar circle track motor, with 3x2's, 400jr, mallory dual point, eighth over Ross', wire looms, red wires, center dump headers. Finished around ten last night - stood back to admire my handiwork... wow. its friggin' beautiful. A piece of art; but: Is it? Looked up the definition of art: art<SUP> 1</SUP><SCRIPT>play_w("A0440900")</SCRIPT><OBJECT style="MARGIN: 3px 3px 5px" codeBase=http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0 height=13 width=10 classid=clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000> <embed style="margin-bottom:4px" src="http://img.tfd.com/play.swf" FlashVars="soundpath=http://img.tfd.com/hm/mp3/A0440900" menu="false" width="10" height="13" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></OBJECT>(ärt) </P>n. 1. Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature. 2. a. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. b. The study of these activities. c. The product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group. 3. High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value. so...is a hot, dressed-out flathead mill art or merely an assemblage of mechanical componentry intent on recreating a moment in time?
Was too effin' tired to take a pic - just washed up and crawled into bed. Will push it out in the daylight this evening and post up then.
3. High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value. Seems to cover it.
so...is a hot, dressed-out flathead mill art or merely an assemblage of mechanical componentry intent on recreating a moment in time?[/quote] Chuckspeed..... Us right brainers are big on visuals.. Its not that we are short on imagination, its just my imagination is a really dangerous neighbor hood - I need to know where I should be going, or I always get into trouble, if you know what I mean. Its the haircut over the phone thing.... No offense, dude - I'm with Denise on this one...
Yes, it is Art (I don't care what they say) I had the 425 nailhead all painted and chromed sitting on the engine stand for weeks just admiring it like a jewel, it had plenty of my personal touches onnit, so that makes it Art....
Here's a pic of the mock-up from late Feb/early March...it looks waay better cooler now with the wire looms, ARP studs and clear red wires tucked into the front-mount Mallory:
YES..it is art! And the way some of us build our creations, it can be considered abstract (worthy of comparison to Mr. Brancusi's work).
Umm...he's dead, jim. I'm sending two kids to art college; you'll have to go a bit further on the obscurity scale than a 19th century romanian sculptor. I think I hear more references to Degas in my house than I do Britney Spears - not a bad thing. that's what drives the question, BTW. My kids spend hundreds of hours immersed in the process of creation - and the result is art. If I collect a bunch of rusty old parts, clean 'em up, bolt them together - then is it truly art - or is it the mechanical equivalent of a velvet elvis painting sold from a roadside stand?
Should we use the litmus test of Congress? Like they did with porn-was it produced with prurient intent? Was your Intent to produce art or a machine? Or both? The reason I bought up Brancusi was the whole "it's not art" debate when his "Bird in Space" was imported. They imposed Industrial machine tariffs on it, because they said-"It's not art. I KNOW art when I see it" FWIW- looking at your pics, I think it's art. I've got a 401 nailhead that I see as art, too. But just because I used this dreamy metallic blue paint on it. If it was black, it wouldn't be art....
I guess pictures wuld be more impactful.... And yes, I know, my shop is a flinkin' flankin' mess. If you like the color, I picked it out. If you don't, blame Groucho. I copied HIM.
Everything is art if it's done in a black sweater, man. seriously... was watching an indian larry documentary a few years back; IL felt M/C's could indeed be 'rolling art'. that was an epiphany - that a functional machine could be considered art - not just the grahics laid down on an otherwise mundane mechanical conveyance. then...there are the art cars. There's a '60's Alfa down in Key West that's been converted to sculpture - but then it's no longer operational. In the Museum of Visionary Art in Baltimore, there's a Pontiac longroof converted to sculpture via 'found' objects; again, non-operational. If I were to scratch build a car with artistic intent - yeah...that's art. If I were to build up a M/C using a Custom Chrome catalog though, it 'feels like the result would be lots of shiny bits - but not art. If it's derivative no - not art. this is where I get hung up. It feels more like a craft rather than art. But then again, craftwork can be transcendent...
i feel art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. example: i was walking through the Met in NYC about a month ago with a friend, in the modron art section we came across a 12' wide canvas, painted blue. i dont consider it art, but some do. i definatly consider that flathead (as well as that nailhead) art. Industrial art, but art non-the-less.
Well, one of the definitions of art is to produce something that evokes an emotional response from the viewer. I beleive that your motor, in a cool old car roaring down the highway, would produce an emotional response from most people..... I think that a lot of people see us as grease monkeys, and that what we do has no artistic merit. I disagree. What we do is create. We see a part at a swap meet that has nothing to do with the car that we own, but we see an opportunity to make something greater than the sum of it's parts. Some of the greatest artists I know are members on the HAMB, and so few of them see themselves as artists. Look at the motor mounts that some of these guys come up with, or the ability to resurrect a derelict carcass of a car into something shiny and beautiful. These are artists, plain and simple. When did we got so philisophical on the HAMB?
looking great.... the unfined heads seem to nod at the aluminum and smooth lines of the car... I agree with zach, when can we see this thing.... you've had it a few months now... haha... keep her up!
Body's still at the paint shop seats will be done this week. I'm hopin to have it in the frame this weekend - and marry up the body and the frame 3rd weekend of May.
thanks. I tried to carry the postwar alloy theme all the way thru the car - including silver hammertone on the axles, suspension and bones to mimic aircraft landing gear components. Car's gettin painted same color as the Navarro Roadster - wheels will be black - as of today. Unlike Zach, I travel A LOT and the time i get to work on the car is precious; if I'd started from scratch it woulda been a ten year project instead of a few months.
The Jalopy Journal
