Motorcycle Graphics: Outsider Art, Graphics and Illustration

More than 30 artists from across the globe share their art depicting freedom and speed in two dimensions

 

Classic and vintage motorbikes are once again at the epicenter of counterculture. Talk to any of the custom shops and you realize that filmmakers, artists, surfers, designers, skaters, and many A-list actors are buying, riding, and commissioning motorcycles that move them. After decades of being marketed as a midlife crisis toy, the motorcycle and the culture that surrounds it are returning to their authentic roots—real machines ridden by those who care about the machine and the release from quotidian drudgery, rather than show. In the wake of this cultural shift have emerged many new boutique custom shops and street riding outfitters. Even more significantly, a wave of vibrant new graphic design has emerged worldwide to give the movement its aesthetic stamp. It is this work which is documented here, and will be hugely inspiring to anyone on the scene and graphic designers alike. Artists include Will Barras (UK), Dirty Donny (San Francisco), Leviathan (Spain), Shawn McKinney (Los Angeles), Scarlett Rickard (UK), Lennard Schuurmans (Netherlands), Silent TV (France), Tokyo Guns (Japan), Carby Tuckwell (Australia), Chris Watson (UK), and Jeff Wright (Des Moines, Iowa).