It was a dark and stormy night... No, really, it was. OK, not really
stormy, but was dark and rainy as I walked from the Pulse bus stop in the Scott's Addition area here in Richmond. I was looking for an industrial place called Cut and Bleed, the site of Steve Crandall's art show. Cut and Bleed isn't a nightclub playing The Cure and Morrissey 24/7 for depressed Suicide Girls. It's an oversized item printing business. Need to wrap Grandma's car with photos of your kids, or a 30 foot tall banner of The Ramones? Cut and Bleed can do it for you. In the shop there are a couple of rooms which are the perfect size for an indie art show. FBM Bikes founder Steve Crandall, throwing some peace above, held a solo art show displaying his signature style of cool coffee cups and cinder block ramps there last night, December 14, 2018.
The 3,000 pound concrete elephant in the room. If you were at the D.I.Y. World Championships Jam at Powers Bikes in October, or if you saw video it, you saw this HUGE cinder block with a curved ramp set up on it, a MEGA launch ramp. One of Steve's big themes is the idea, seen often last night, to "build your own fun." His simple icon of this is what so many of us BMX guys and girls started jumping as kids, a cinder block and a board. I remember jumping similar ramps as an 8-year-old on a tall handlebar banana seat bike, and doing the same thing on my BMX bike at 17. Nearly all kids who have ridden bikes much know this simple set-up and remember it. To Crandall, it's the epitome of using what's around to build something to ride and create your own fun. This simple, but awesome, idea is a main theme of Steve Crandall's outlook on out world. You don't need a ton of money, you don't need to be sponsored by a basketball shoe company to have fun on your bike. Look around. See what's sitting around, grab some stuff, build a little something, and go session.
Somehow, in a Stonehenge-like mystery, Crandall had the 3,000 pound monster cinder block from the D.I.Y. Jam transported to the art show. To me, walking in and seeing that humongous object there just made me laugh. It totally reminded me of the Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, Texas. It just made people smile, whether you wanted to or not. The absurdity of this huge chunk of concrete in the middle of the show, with the launch ramp on it, was just hilarious.
If you are at all familiar with Steve Crandall's paintings, you know coffee is his main theme. Coffee cups, to be exact. I heard him tell someone last night that on a cross country trip a while back , he was guzzling coffee to stay awake, and the coffee cup idea took root in his brain. Coffee cups took on a mystic importance to him, or something along those lines. So there were about 10 big paintings on plywood, most of them huge coffee cups, and maybe 40 small paintings on paper in the show. Each one is was a bit different, and all were reasonably priced for the people at the show to take home. The blue painting above had a bicycle for eyes, while the brown one has a bike inside a heart. Love coffee, love bikes, ride, have fun.
If I had my act together financially right now, I would have taken this painting above home. That was my favorite of the show, except for the two big photos. Below, the real thing. Life imitates art imitating BMX.
Another look at the monster block, with local BMX racer and BMX Hooligan mom's funny jacket slogan behind it. She's definitely NOT ugly, by the way. This was also the most kid friendly art show I've seen. The mega-sized launch ramp and mini quarterpipe (with the yellow arrow in the background), made a little halfpipe. A few of the kids burned off energy running back and forth between them, like riding a halfpipe without a bike. Hey, they were real ramps, not art show props, go ahead kids. Have fun. You won't brake these.
This was my other favorite of the show. It's a very vintage ironing board with a happy coffee cup and "surf's up" on it. All in all, it was a really cool indie art show, and the old school BMX crowd of Richmond, a really good crew of people, showed up to check it out, and support Steve's work. Plenty of people went home with art. We all pigged out on the snacks, and wine and beer for most. One idea if you ever do a BMX world art show, put some art up next to the snacks (which were in a side room). A whole bunch of us stood there munching, for a long time, because we're mostly cheap ass BMXers at heart, and talking. I'd put a few pieces up (and plastic covered), by the food, beer, and wine.
It was a good time, with a cool, BMX scene crowd, and a chill and fun vibe all evening. Props to Steve Crandall for doing a ton of original work, putting the show on, and showing us all a good time.
I was inspired. My mind was racing on the way out for ideas to do my own art show somewhere down the line. Oh, if anyone needs a dining room table that will survive a nuclear holocaust and the zombie apocalypse, call Crandall. That monster cinder block may need a new home.
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