First $1 Million Harley-Davidson. For a teaser, it’s a good one. Bartels Harley-Davidson of Marina Del Rey, CA announced that it will unveil a $1 Million Harley at its dealership on October 21 at 7 pm. Since there is (almost) no way you can put $1 million of parts on a motorcycle, the explanation must be that this motorcycle was painted by Jack Amstrong whose style is called “Cosmic Extensionalism” and who is billing himself as the most famous artist on the planet. As a matter of fact, I like his art, and it’s true that Andy Warhol called him “The Last Wizard.” Hiis paintings are worth between $300,000 to $3 million dollars. So, a great promotion for Bartel’s, but I am afraid this Harley will be a $20,000 or less stock bike with an “estimated” $980,000 value paint job. Who is going to buy it? Probably not a biker…Hope thousands come to see it on October 21st and leave the dealership after placing an order for a 2011 model.Is it Harley-Davidson Winning Formula for 2011? Only in the UK for now, but maybe (I think so) a strategy that Harley-davidson is going to use in the US very soon. Harley just announced yesterday in this country a round of price cuts and freezes on 2011 models. Substantial discounts are offered on some models. For example the Night Rod Special (about $1080) the Cross Bones (about $620), the Sportster 883 & 48 (only $160) etc. Other models keeping their 2010 MSRP’s. Unanswered question: are buyers obliged to buy the discount in genuine Harley-Davidson after-market parts? Don’t be surprised if Harley launches an “Affordable Harley” campaign very soon in the US. You will know for sure when you will see their banner ads appearing in my Blog.
Bonneville: Electric Motorcycle Land Speed Record. Lightning Motorcycles set a new Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) and American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) land speed record of 162 mph. After tuning its electric motor, salvaged from a General Motors EV1 electric car, on a dynamometer in Salt Lake City overnight, the team, led by founder Richard Hatfield of San Carlos, California, returned to Wendover, Utah for a third crack at the record book in a week and reached a top speed of 170.97 mpg into an 11-mile headwind. On the required return run, with the wind having died down, the custom one-off, road-racing machine charged across the dry lake bed hitting 176 mph, for an official average speed of 173 mph. Lightning Motorcycles is planning to bring out a street legal version of the Lightning for consumer sales.
After perusing Jack Armstrong’s website, I’d pay him a million dollar NOT to paint my motorcycle. He belongs to the same “throw/drizzle/splash” paint on a canvas school of “art” as Jackson Pollock which personally, looks more like the crap your kid brings home and is meant to be displayed only on a refrigerator and only in the home of the aforementioned child.
I used to work at Bartels and they are the nicest family in the business and true pioneers in selling production customs. This one however, may be an attempt at creating some buzz and curious wealthy folks?
I can’t wait to see how it works out and hopefully they’re not having to pay Mr. Armstrong in advance!
Gonna follow news about the Lightning people…………… impressive! peace
So I guess this list is wrong:
Top Artists Alive
Jasper Johns
Lucien Frued
Anselm Keifer
Brice Marden
Cy Twombly
Scully
Gerhard Richter
Chuck Close
Damian Hirst
Jenny Seville
Pearlstein
Takashi Murakami
etc, etc, etc…
Before I looked at his Gallery of Crap, I saw the picture of him in those douchetastic sunglasses and knew he was a talenteless hack. A nutless monkey could paint better than that.
Hey I just got an idea!
best artist around:David Uhl lucky enough to have got “Liberator” hanging in my bedroom
Funny thing about art is that the so called experts don’t have a clue most of the time. Just a few weeks ago a picture was found at a garage sale and some experts were saying it was a photo taken by some famous artist / photographer and was worth millions of dollars. Turned out that it was just one of many photo’s that the lady having the garage sale’s uncle walter had taken while on vacation. When that news came out Uncle Walter was not declaired the newest genious photographer but the photo was then said to be worthless. So much for the experts opinions. Art is only worth what some one is willing to pay whether it is a pacasso or joe blow painted it. I have believed for many years that someone at some point in time in the past had figured out that if they were to claim a artist to be genious that his or her work would be worth more money and that is the only differance between junk and millions of dollars. That is also were the saying
One mans junk is another mans treasure came from.
About Andy warhol I was listening to the Howard Stern radio show a couple weeks ago and he was talking about IQ’s and it was said on the show that Andy Warhol has an IQ of around 68 that is just above retarded. Maybe this is why Andy Warhol thinks this guy is genious?
hey laurence,
you forgot to put me on your list. 🙂
To get 300k for that certainly does qualify him for being a genius. And as for that paint job on a bike….The Strokers’ crew has already has one.
“best artist around:David Uhl”
Couldn’t agree more. I “had” Hillclimber, but my buddy liked it so much that I finally broke down and gave it to him; he had been wanting it for a long time.
Bill
And David Mann… there’s true talent.
Congratulations on Electric motorcycle record..
I proudly held that record sense 1974 @ 165.387….36 years..
I am respectful and proud of you..
Art is subjective as one either appreciates Jackson Pollack, Van Gogh, Matisse, Kadinsky, etc..
Most average consumer are not educated to artistry. What they lack in understanding, they put down…
There are many wellknown and less well know artist who’ve been able to cut major licensing deals…
Takashi Murakami ~ does paints smiling flower faces and cherries on Louis Vuitton handbags and accesseries in a limited # making a Louis bag a collector item with a higher value when they are sold out.
I predict To whom ever the lucky buyer is, they are investing in a piece of art/machine that will eventually be shown and displayed in a musuem….
Most great art and artists were ahead of their time. In 30 years this amazing creation called Cosmic Harley will sell for 100 million or more dollars, and museums will line up to display it. Artist’s create! What do negative people create? it’s never to late to get a life… people and history now remember van gogh and gauguin with love and affection-history has forgotten the sad and bitter people who hated their work and were cruel to them while alive. M!