Hot rod culture and girls(pin-ups)?

Don't **** heads with your teacher.
She will win.
When I usta teach art cl***es and give an ***ignment and the head strong "I just want to do my own thing" people would ***** and complain that they just wanted to do their own thing, like you suggested I'd tell them "This ***ignment is a commission. You are the commisioned artist and I am the client who is going to pay you handsomely if I like the work and poorly if I don't.
The payment is a letter grade.
So do your wn thing if you wish, but if I don't like it, I wont buy it for this ***ignment."
I gave lots of A's, a few B's and about as many F's

THe only legitimate way I can see you fullfilling the Prof's requirement and having a person in the image with a car is if that person is the actual owner and driver of the car in the image.
Otherwise they are just "T&A".
I love T&A, but it won't satisfy your ***ignment.

 

I disagree. Grades don't matter. Do your best to fulfill the ***ignment, but you have to do something that you're p***ionate about, especially if it's what you want to do when you get out of school. I never had a potential employer ask me what me GPA was. They just want to see the work.

Now, if you flunk out, that's a whole different story

 

There is a lot of ideas flying around here... So let me clear a few things up.

My instructor is educated and has her masters. She is also a sucessful artist, and frequenly has work in diffrent gallerys. That being said, that is in her little relm of "fine art". One thing she mentioned is that this project crosses into commercial art. Im not doing comercial work, and Im not selling anything, so I think that labeling it as commercial art just because work could be broadly apealing to people outside the elite group of fine artist, is ignorant. I think it is also amazingly hyprocitical. Even the most abstract "fine" artist seak monetary compensation for there work. That being said, I can learn from her, but dont have to agree with everything she says, or follow her views. And Im confident that I can go against her(if I do it in the correct way, and have valid points, and quality), and win. It might be the diffrence between an A and a B.

Im not going to art school. Im going to college, and am a Fire Science major. This is my second college semester taking photograpy, but Im doing it because its something that I enjoy, and want to learn more about. Grades do matter to me, but I wont do work that Im not happy with in order to make a good grade. Thats why I am asking for more opinions, of why hot rods and girls go together, or how women have affected your hotrodding. Or have they? I would also like to hear opinions from some of the women on here too.

From an artistic point of view, photos of cars, and photos of girls on cars, are amazingly played out, and 99 times out of 100, just rely on the subject matter, and would not apeal to anyone who is not specificly intrested in that subject matter. Like I said, this lack of quality is why I want to attempt this project, and why Im getting so much **** for it. I want my work to not only appeal to male hot rodders, but females who have never touched a hot rod in their life, and anyone else who is open minded enough to really look at it. And dont drop me into that 99 times I mentioned before you see my work. If you see it, and still feel the same way, blow me up then...

 

When I read this I had a sudden inspiration--don't know if the idea appeals to you at all or not, but do you remember the Checkers/Rallys commercials several years back, the animated ones by Peter Chung (who did Aeon Flux) featuring a hot chick in a hot car?
Photos of chicks behind the wheel, dude--

http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.4/3.4pages/3.4chung.html

 

Ok all that being said, kool! stick to your guns...maybe try the traditional route.Going back as far as the **** flying lady on the rolls royce of the 20s..pin-up art of the 40s and into pure americana culture such as girls used to sell cars ( dina shore) for chevy to the pure and simple "read inocent" automotive magazines to date...either way good luck and let us know you ya do.

 

I've got three things to say...Melinda Miles,Sabina Kelly,Heidi VanHorn. Is there any doubt in your mind,why cars and pin-ups go together? NUF SAID!

 

Nice photography. Followed the link back to your original post. The Como Motel on US75, stayed there when I first moved to Richardson back in October 1959.

 

How do hot rods and girls go together? . . . Are you one of them gay boys?

 

Nice pictures of girls and you can see part of some cars there in the background.

 

The Art Ins***ute of Chicago?

 

because they are the only two things i care about..

tok

 

I would absolutlely have your pictures include women working on cars, not just d****d on the fender. I think your teacher will like that too. I handed my girlfriend the Sawzall, showed her where to cut, and she chopped a couple of posts on my Tudor. There aren't many things hotter than a cute girl ripping through some vintage tin.

 

AMEN to that Django AMEN

 

Again??!

 

There was cars?

 

I am the first to admit I do not know a lot about cars, and I know even less about art and woman. But what I do know about art, woman and cars is this... there is no right and there is no wrong. Some folks like street rods, some like customs, some like muscle cars, some like blonde's, some big chests, some Asian, some black and white pictures, some like still life, ... yeah get my drift...

It's this simple and it's this complex...

When I look at a piece of art, a car or a woman, there is a pit of the stomach, ache in the belly, longing in the groin reaction... You love it or ya don't... if you gotta think about it, it's not beautiful and its not ART.

 

Okay then - here's a different approach. Just an idea.

Focus on style elements in both the traditional rods and customs that appeal to you, and also style elements from the same period in time. Crop them together in the same photo, or present them as a series of comparitive images.

For example:

Checkerboard firewall - and - fishnet stockings

'50s-era Caddy front bumpers - and - Betty Grable's profile - and - dual quads

'57 Plymouth tailfins - and - a portrait of a girl wearing '50s 'Cat's Eye' gl***es


I hope this makes some sense. But, if you want to look at it from an artistic viewpoint with a potential commercial element, focusing on specific style elements and comparing them side-by-side will accomplish both.

~Scotch~

 

Okay, my take on the subject:

Tell a story with each photo. Whether it's the hot pinup girl changing the flat while the clueless socs stands there in his chinos on the side of the road, or perhaps a couple on the sidewalk - he's checking out the bad*** rod while she's swooning over the custom next to it, I think she'll be much more accommodating.

 

You have alternatives:
1. Do what your instructor would like to see, ***uming you have a correct 'read' on her. Take the good grade and be on your way.
2. Do what you want to do. Use your powers of persuasion (you mentioned you thought you could influence her) to convince her of your wisdom. Take the grade your instructor deems correct and be on your way.
I'm impressed with the on point replies given by all the art majors. The art majors in my family (I'm not one of them) usually don't know what day of the week it is or what time of day it is. They seem to revel in vaguery. Hot Rodding art majors are cool!
Good Luck!

 

I would start off by exploring this with your professor.

Illustrative art was always looked down on by the established art enivroment as cr*** and commercial. See The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe. That being said, Illustrative art has come into its own in the last ten years. The Art Ins***ute of Chicago and the Met have both had Norman Rockwell exhibitons. Where am I going with this? Illustrative Artists who specialized in pin-ups such as Elvgren and Vargas are now regarded as established masters and their works are setting records. New artists, the lowbrow scene, also began as illustrators. The pin-up art form is just as valid as the pop-art movement of the sixties and seventies. If Jim Dine can paint a hammer and Johns can copy the American Flag, then you can photograph pin-ups. Your art has a rich history and tradition.

As a side note, I would explore the WWII aviators, nose art and importance of pin-ups in that culture. A culture which has been do***ented many times as being integral to the development of the So-Cal hot rod scene.

Anyway, just my opinion. and we all know about opinions.

 

It's what the boys were coming home to.

 

Look right back to the 50s, movies like "Dragstrip Girl" "Motorcycle Gang" then later movies like "She Devils on Wheels" and "American Graffitti", "Gone in 60Sec" and even right to today "Fast and Furious" and you will see hot cars and hot girls go together-especially hot girls with "seductive powers" over us males. 99% of males find hot girls combined with hot cars a huge turn on, the rest are gay!

 

A true gearhead so excited about working on a car she forgets to get dressed. Had to edit pic. just a little.

 

I just don't get the objectified woman angle. If it was so ****in bad why was it done in the 1st place. Deep down that's EXACTLY what many women want...to be objectified by their mates. To be the one thing that sparks her man to help sustain her life. It's nature at it's most base form. So how's it so bad or wrong (I hate that term) to capture some of that very essence in what you shoot, draw, paint, or design? The Cadillac angle is true and not new. Many stylists also designed clothing for women that mimiced some of the key design elemnts of the cars. I remember the Packard wardobe photos during the late 40s early 50s. Cadillac did the same.

While I think the image of a lovely woman in coveralls (nothing else of course) working on a car is totally ***y and cool, the image of a beautiful face behind the wheel of a traditional car, cl***ic, hot rod, whatever, as it's being driven down the road can have just as much if not more *** appeal and indeed strike more from the imagination of the viewer. What's she thinking? Where's she goin? Where's she from?

Hey, traditional rodding practices aren't for everyone and niether is pin-up art, but somehow certain things just migrate to each other. Just as certain types of people with a distinctive look and taste in clothes and cars tend to do. If it appears at times to be an art form, if a detailed image can spark the imagination, if there's an essence you see that may otherwise get missed, shoot it.

 

I like a lot of what Im hearing here. Kinda getting my wheels turning a little faster.

Id like to hear some more personal storys and history. You can post it up, or just PM me.

And from any females on here. What are your opinions?

 

Take a break so Dirty31 can pick up his motor.

 

You asked for it, so here it goes...
As a female mechanic raised in garages of scantily clad women laying all over cars (none of which in my garage) I am not against 'tasteful' photography. Now, do I like to see homecoming queen kelly in her Star Spangled bikini laying across an 85 Mustang? No, that is not art. That is **X tool company trying to sell more tools to guys named Cleatus (no offense to any cleati out there). American cars have been built on a p***ion, a p***ion on parallelled by what a man feels for a woman. Look at car designs based on female anatomy.
Check out these two articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagmar_bumpers

http://www.speedace.info/automotive_directory/cadillac.htm

I don't find it degrading to be all dolled up and pictured with a car, definitely if I'm wrenching on it! I guess you can just tell by a photographer's demeanor what type of calendar it will be. For instance, when people here on the HAMB talk about creating a calendar with cars and girls I am positive it would be tasteful, traditional and downright cool.

 

It's a lot safer to d**** a woman over a car than a car over a woman. Just keep safety in mind for your shoot.

The funniest thing I read on the HAMB all year is right above this in chevygirls post....
"I can fly".

I'm just glad you are okay so we can joke about it.

 

I think Rasputin's comments are on the money. Beyond that, as a former art theory guy, I might recommend reading/referrencing-

Kate Linker's paper "Representation and ***uality"
Jacques Lacan's "Guiding Remarks for a Congress on Feminine ***uality"
Michael Foucault's "The Subject and Power"

Those should give you some talking points on chics in art...

As for your work leaning towards the commercial side-
Robert Hughes' paper "The Rise of Andy Warhol"

It sounds like you are allowing yourself to be drawn into a conversation of criticism/conceptualism, when you are just there to learn technique. You can choose to opt out of that battle.

Or you could quote Lacan-
"...images and symbols for the woman cannot be isolated from images and symbols of the woman...It is representation, the represenation of feminine ***uality...which conditions how it comes into play."

Maybe you are exploring the artist/model power relationship, within your represenation? Additionally, visual cues of traditional masculine power (cars) are providing some subtext to the scene/image. Perhaps the pin-up girls are, in fact, a dominating presence over that masculine subtext.

Remember that visual art is framed by language. You need to create context, along with those great photos.

I never thought I would talk art theory on the HAMB...

 

Cars and Women,............ Mans Ruin X2