Synopsis:
Robert Williams' life and work have proven difficult to describe. Who better then, to put Williams into words and pictures than the man himself-as he does in this illustrated autobiography of his life in hot rods. Here, for the first time, Robert Williams presents his extraordinary body of work in the context of his hot rod background, in the process relating his impossibly wild formative years and his gradual establishment as one of America's most influential underground artists. Born in 1943 and raised in Alabama and Albuquerque, Williams eventually gravitated to Southern California and the Chouinard Art Institute, but not before immersing himself in the country s nascent youth culture of hot rods, rock n roll, and bowling alley rumbles. He recounts a boyhood spent in drive-in theaters and dirt tracks, honing a life and a style that had little to do with the world of square day jobs he entered after leaving Chouinard in 1963, when, through sheer happenstance, an unemployment agency handed him a job as art director at the studio of his hero, Ed ""Big Daddy"" Roth. Along with tales from his time at Roth studios which resulted in his famous Roth ads for Hot Rod magazine, not to mention several infamous run-ins with the Hell s Angels Williams demythologizes the 1950s, recalls his association with Zap Comix and R. Crumb, and reflects on today s retro rodders and his own hot rods. Illustrated throughout with photographs from Williams personal collection as well as paintings and illustrations, this is a life portrait as only Robert Williams could do it.
Review:
Robt. Williams is the dean of hot rod art, the man to whom all other hot rod lowbrow artists are ultimately compared. Here is a book for hot rodders, lowbrow art lovers, fans of the man Robt. Williams and students of the American hot rod culture. Read it and enjoy. --Old Skool Rodz
Robert Williams comes to us with inordinant fame in the hot-rod world, specifically for his skill livin' everything rod. To say the man's hot-rod mad is an understatment, and like the back of the book reads, "hot rods, motorsickles, carnies...hippies and punks, Bob has spent a lifetime simmering waist-deep in a spicy gonzo wierdness, and now he's serving up a big bowl of his crazy life to you, oh hapless reader." Yes, it's wierd. but it's also wonderfull looking into a man so immersed in roddin' culture, and if ever you've thrown a spanner around or simply looked longingly at that rat rod passin' by, you're sure to get some kind of enjoyment from the book. Or you could just trip out to the psychedelic art...Cool, very cool. --Hot4S.com
You will have heard the term low brow art and to some extent Robert Williams is responsible for initiating the term in to the collective Kustom Kulture phsyce with the publication of his first book the Lowbrow Art Of Robert Williams. 'There never was any intention to make the title of my book the name of a fledgling art movment but, over time, that is what seems to be what has transpired'. One of his most famous artworks being the infamous Appetite for Destruction album cover for Guns n Roses. The Hot Rod Art of Robert Williams is an illustrated autobiography of his life in hot rods. From his wild formative years, to his gradual establishment as one of America's most influential underground artists. He recounts a boyhood steeped in drive-in movies and dirt tracks rock & roll and bowling alley rumbles. It was when an unemployment agency sent him along for a job at the Ed 'Big Daddy Roth' Studio life took on a whole new meaning. This book recounts tales of his time with Roth, the run-ins with Hells Angels. Superbly illustrated throughout with photographs from his own personal collection, as well as paintings and illustrations, this is a life portrait as only Robert Williams could do it! --Pinstriping UK
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
