Monday, September 20, 2010

Mercedes 380SLT Drawing, 1979

Extremely cab forward WAY before it was introduced by Chrysler, with many of the then-new '79 Mustang styling cues including the tri-spoked wheels, I forgot the headlights on this Mercedes SL wagon. Let's just say they're hidden! Not bad for a party monster of huge proportions. Make that gigantic proportions. I once had to jump out of a van going at least 30mph to escape from a machete-wielding serial killer, I kid you not, but that's another story for another time. Enjoy this drawing for now.

R E M E M B R A N C E — An illustration of a proposed Mercedes Benz sportwagon I created in 1979 when I lived in LA. I lived a 'fast' lifestyle, frequently going out to clubs for 3-4 days straight. I rarely had much money for anything except clubs and drinks and other party favors, hence the ripped piece of paper used for this drawing. Many of my friends were fellow artists, and after we came home at 6-7-8am, none of us would be tired, so we'd amuse each other by drawing, or singing, making clothes, or whatever creative spurt hit us. I was the only one that drew cars, lol. 

During this period, I created a mural on my bedroom wall, a mural approximately 8 feet by 10 feet, all with a very-fine Rapidograph pen. It was completely comprised of teeny-tiny lines and geographic shapes. It took the entire 8 months I lived there to finish it. I went back to LA five years later to visit my friend Andy, and when we walked past my old place, I could see through the open window the mural was still there—not bad for a rental in West Hollywood! I know for a fact the building was razed recently, so, sadly, I have no artistic presence in LA today.

4 comments:

  1. Casey, you are a TEASE with your stories!! I can hardly wait for your autobiography :)
    It would be of interest to see more art from that time period (does any other exist?)and a good story to go with it! Have enjoyed all of your posts, but still super busy...will be catching up on blogs (and my OWN sadly neglected blog) one of these days!
    Have a good one everyone!
    mare

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  2. Busy is good, Mare! I appreciate it whenever you can squeeze a minute or two in for me!

    I don't have much art from that period. I never thought about doing anything long-lasting. I used scraps of paper and gave them away. I frequently did drawings on walls and of course, couldn't keep them. I took tons of photos though, and some day I'll get them printed.

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  3. This reminds me when I was in high school and designed my first car in art class. It looks very similar but was a jaguar XJ40 coupe in British racing green. My art teacher wasn't too thrilled about it and he has this really long stick up his a**. So my inspirations as a designer never materialized.

    Anyway, keep up the great work and never let some bone head put you down!

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  4. sorry about that, Woody! i actually had something similar happen to me too. The only reason I never became an actual car designer was my high-school guidance counselor. She said it was much too specialized a field, there weren't enough jobs in it. I was really gung ho about it until that point, with a catalog from the Art Center in LA and everything. I would have been in Bangle's class! I might have schooled him before he ruined BMW!

    On a more serious note, I think it's criminal for guidance counselors in high school to squash a kid's dreams like that. They should be pushing kids, not holding them back. I had an A average in every class and got into Harvard. Trinity and Vassar. I think I could have gotten into the Art Center too.

    Oh well. No use crying over spilled car designs!

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