Wheelz explores America's chopper love

Swapping paint brushes for wrenches, watercolor for metalflake and Van Gogh for Von Dutch, "Wheelz: The Art and Design of the Customized Ride" roars into the Columbus College of Art and Design's Canzani Center this week.

Running from Oct. 1 through Dec.11, "Wheelz" has more than 36 items on display, including hot rods, choppers, custom cars and lowriders. It is a different type of exhibition for the center, but should interest both fans of fine arts and gearheads.

"It's not every day that the general public can understand how creative, intense and completely whacked we are at CCAD ... and (Wheelz) offers a splendid illustration how design can manifest itself in our everyday lives," said Denny Griffith, CCAD president.

The exhibition gives CCAD a chance to celebrate the custom vehicle industry while exploring the American infatuation with car and motorcycle customizing, which is currently a $1.4 billion a year enterprise in the U.S. In addition to its immediate visual and economic impact, "Wheelz" also examines how customizing has influenced our culture as a whole, from toys and accessories to tattoos, Griffith said.

Included among the exhibit's 24 motorcycles are examples of nearly every custom style from stretched-out choppers to stripped-down bobbers (motorcycles that have all extraneous parts removed so they drive and look faster). Several of the country's top builders are represented, including a black and gold chopper adorned by signature Maltese Crosses by West Coast Choppers' Jesse James and "Grease Monkey," the personal bike of the late Indian Larry, which radiates old-school style with its metalflake and goldleaf paint scheme.

"(Choppers) are an expression of freedom and extroversion - like stiletto heels, they're very uncomfortable, very impractical, but sexy as hell," said Ed Youngblood, guest curator for motorcycles.

Other noteworthy motorcycles on display are John Parham's 1959 "Triumph Thunderbird," which was painted by famous painter and pinstriper Von Dutch - whose work became hugely influential among builders during the '60s and '70s - and replicas of the motorcycles Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper rode in the film "Easy Rider," which helped to bring the motorcycle culture to mainstream attention in 1969.

Also Columbus' own, Bruce Mullins has a creation titled "Panhandler." Built by Mullins and Skunkworx Custom Cycle, it is innovative as well as visually striking, as the motorcycle has no external gas filler, with the right side of the faux gas tank sliding down to gain access.

Custom car builders are also well-represented, with luminaries such as Boyd Coddington and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, whose hot rods, motorcycles and Rat Fink character revolutionized hot-rodding in the '60s, both having several cars on display. Coddington's "Boydster 1" shows why it was voted America's Most Beautiful Roadster in 1996, with its sleek lines and raked stance. Posies Hot Rods & Customs' Extremeliner is a beautiful Woodie Station Wagon outfitted with a gold razzleberry paint, the color of which shifts from gold to raspberry depending on how the light hits it. On the other end of the spectrum is Jimmy Falschlehner's unpainted 1934 Roadster Pick-Up, which is a nod to minimalist traditionalism.

"Trying to cover 70 years of customizing with about 10 cars. It's a daunting task ... it's not a walk through history, but more of a snapshot," said John DeWitt, guest curator for automobiles.

Among the gleaming chrome, mirror-finish paint jobs and flawless metalwork, the attention to detail and dedication to their craft becomes immediately obvious. Steel, aluminum, copper and bronze are heated, welded and hammered out, removing all seams, incongruities and trim; ride heights are lowered and roofs are chopped, all in an effort to create a smooth, seamless, aerodynamic surface is a design miracles, said DeWitt.

"Its design - look at the lines. All good art has good design and speaks to the human condition. Whether its outlaw or in-your-face, it's a look or statement of the builder's life and how it should be approached," said Sam West, a builder for Cycle Dynamics in Southport, N.C. and motorcycle enthusiast for 30 years.

"As you start looking, you see some of the details and energy it took to be so simple and seeing the milieu that it came from," he said. "When it's done well, it looks effortless."

"Anyone who questions the artistic abilities of these builders, I invite you to step up close and study the paint on these vehicles. The artistic skill is amazing," Youngblood said.

And that skill does not come cheap.

"Most of these pieces would cost over six figures. The paint job alone costs as much as a really nice car you could walk into a showroom and buy," he said.

It is not a quick process either. Each vehicle can take between a few weeks to several years to complete, West said. Not only is there a lot of fabrication involved, but builders are often at the mercy of suppliers and budgetary restraints that can delay the project.

So why does America have such a love affair with customizing its vehicles?

"Motorcycles have always declared 'look at me,' and owners have always wanted to go beyond and customize," Youngblood said.

"For many it's about individuality, wanting to be above just another cog in the crowd ... I'm an individual, not a piece of the giant machine,'" West said.

"Wheelz" runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Sunday hours are 1 to 5 p.m. In addition to the car and motorcycle displays, "Wheelz" features the showing of several films tied to the custom culture, such as "Easy Rider," "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!," as well as demonstrations on pinstriping and other customizing techniques.