Would love to get over to see that. Back in the 80's I purchased a couple of posters from him at the Long Beach Show. Rob asked me if I wanted them signed (for free) but I had just seen him sign the guys poster in front of me - big signature in the lower left corner. Stupidly I said No thanks - DOH!!!! Still got the posters and every time I look at them. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hello, Robert Williams is a fabulous artist. His works may not agree with most people, but the art just hits the spot for hot rod enthusiasts. We have been fans of his art work since it struck a nerve in our collective college thinking, way back then. We were able to go to the first art show in Laguna Beach back in 1993 called “Kustom Kulture.” That name in itself struck a nerve with the local, standard works, art community. “This 1993 exhibition was seen as a breakthrough, introducing edgy, fun, and unique art into the museum, leading the art world in a new aesthetic direction.” "A White-Knuckle Ride for Lucky St. Christopher," "Snuff Fink," and "Cowboys and Amoebas" by Robert Williams. The Laguna Beach Art Museum is usually ok for a visit, but this display of art including other genre artists knocked the socks off of the staid, traditional, beach scene artists in town. The displays were not traditional by any means or viewpoints. Robert Williams was right in the middle of the wild museum art show. 1993 Laguna Art Museum Jnaki The show was put on by an old surfer with new ideas about how we look at new art. Many years later, in 2013, another surfer/photographer got the whole act together with “Julius the Monkey” creator and put on a retrospective show in Huntington Beach, called Kustom Kulture II. “The Kustom Kulture movement, although rooted in the cl***ic car styles of the fifties and sixties, has evolved and flourished across each generation, eventually making a name for itself in contemporary fine art. A lot of people think Kustom Kulture art is all about the custom car or hot rod and it's a lot about that... But then when you hit Robert Williams, he is the guy who took it into the fine art world. He is the guy more than any of the other guys that influenced the mainstream art world and all his peers that were with him." “Midcentury "Kustom Kulture" icons Von Dutch, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, George Barris, and Dean Jeffries single-handedly proved that creativity could be found beyond pinstripes and hammered sheetmetal, into a multidisciplinary mesh of music, art, and mayhem. And chief a**** those cohorts was Albuquerque-born, Robert Williams.”
Gray Baskerville's write up on Mr. Williams https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-9812-robert-williams-hot-rod-artist/
THANKS for sharing that.I just used my 3D gl***es from a years gone by Sports Illustrated (bikini issue) and they worked GREAT on that poster!
Jnaki, I was there also....it was a great show. That’s what kind of started it all or fueled the fire that recently started for traditional cars. Inside the house:
I've got 'Devil with a Hammer, Hell with a Torch', 'Deuces Wild' and a car show tribute poster on my office wall at work. Bought them at a car show during the '80's along with the street racing one pictured in post #8.
I got them off of eBay around '97-'98. Hand made by the person selling them, if I remember correctly they also had different characters and prints (They only had those 3 versions Robert Williams prints).
Watched a great bio-pic on Amazon Prime last year on Williams and his wife. Worth a quick search if you have Prime
The Jalopy Journal
