Modern art meets motorcycles thanks to Harley-Davidson. At New York's LA.Venue Friday night, the motorcycle maker presented the "Art of Rebellion" show, which featured the work of 10 artists -- Art Chantry, Brian Ewing, Derek Hess, Dirty Donny, Frank Kozik, Harpoon, John Van Hamersveld, Lindsey Kuhn, Tara McPherson and The Pizz -- on Harley-Davidson Iron 883TM gas tanks. The tanks were for sale at the event, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the CUE Art Foundation, a non-profit organization that gives resources to students and emerging artists.

StreetLevel attended the one-night show, and we were able to snap photos of the artwork as well as speak with artist and toy designer Frank Kozik about his piece, which encompassed an entire Harley bike.



Why is Harley doing this?

Frank Kozik: At the root of this, Harley is trying to compete with the Japanese import bikes for the younger guys. That's the whole reason they're doing these things. They've been really nice to me, and I like their product. I wanted to do something that was my work, but also more to emphasize their bike. I think it works, and the bike looks good as a bike.

Do you think having your art or art like yours on the bikes will help?

The thing is, Harley's had a really hard time getting outside what they've been doing for years. The ["Art of Rebellion" show] in Los Angeles was incredibly well-attended. I know that the sales goals for these bikes are being met, which is good for the company. I think that what they're doing with these campaigns is actually working, which is rare in advertising. Sh*t never works. But it's actually working, people are coming here. You're here. Think about it, when's the last time you cared about a motorcycle? You know what I mean?

Also, [the company] is being really cool about it. They're totally hands off. They're just sending us a contract and a deadline, they're not like, "You can't do this." They're not being weird about it. Because I've been involved in similar things for car companies and stuff and there's always a lot of heavy guidelines and a lot of this, that and the other. They're being really hands-off with the artists, and they're really just letting people do their thing, which is also rare.

Do you ride a Harley?

I have a chopper that I built over the years. I do have my own custom Harley I built and I have two Ducatis and Enduro bikes.

Is your own artwork on the bikes, like what we see here?

No, not really. I mean, I designed the bike. The bike is like a big piece. Mostly custom stuff, I made a lot of the parts or I had guys I know make parts. So kind of. But it doesn't have weird graphics on it or anything like that. The bike itself is a one-off.

Can you tell us about the piece that you did?

It was a little different [than the Ronald Reagan-themed tank I made for the L.A. "Art of Rebellion" show] because it actually had to go on the motorcycle this time. So I had to do something that would look good on the basically otherwise stock bike. The main thing about this bike is that it's flat black, so I wanted some color. Military looks good flat. So it's kind of a military color with the orange and the green and the white. And then it goes with the theme, the rebellion, revolution theme.

I'm not really a big fan of revolution, personally, so like the [piece I did for] last show, I like to take something that's considered revolutionary and turn it around. Last time, I did the Republican revolution with Reagan. This time -- everybody, like the hipster kids, are into Che [Guevara] and all that bullsh*t when he was kind of like an a**hole and he just killed all of us the minute he could. So I have this whole thing I do, I do statues and paintings of dead Che, and I thought that that would work for this [show]. I thought the Harley would look cool with the skull. It's got kind of tie to the revolutionary theme and it works with the military scheme, so that's why I went with that. I actually thought it out. Like some of these [artist's other pieces] are really killer, but they would look weird on the bike. I knew they were actually going to put [my tank] on the motorcycle, so first and foremost it had to look like it's really on the motorcycle. I couldn't put horns on it and weird sh*t.

Stay tuned for more from our interview with Frank Kozik, and check out all the artists' tank work below. [Photos by JesseAngelo.com.]

ART CHANTRY


BRIAN EWING



DEREK HESS


DIRTY DONNY


HARPOON


JON VAN HAMERSVELD


LINDSEY KUHN


TARA McPHERSON


THE PIZZ



BONUS:
Check out StreetLevel's in-depth interview with Frank Kozik where he talks about the toy biz, rock 'n' roll and his obsession with Chairman Mao.