Trendy Bike Art Must Live!

So there's this thing in Chicago called "Bike Winter". It's a kind of club/advocacy group that encourages people to stay interested in cycling throughout the cold months by making cool stickers that get posted all over bike racks and by doing fun little events every other week.

Just recently I went to the 18th annual Bike Winter Art Show at Genesis Art Supply, and gosh darn't if I didn't have a whale of a tale of a time.

This post is, by the way, is a bit of a response to my post about bike art that sucks. I am not against bike art, but I don't like bad art. This show was fun, though maybe a little gimmicky -which is probably unavoidable considering the theme. Below is my photo essay that shows some of the pieces that weren't completely blurred out because I don't know how to use a camera, or type blogs good for that matter. Who cares what I think anyway.

Here's a picture from the event flyer that I'm thinking of buying. There were 100 prints made and each is signed. You can buy them at the show, which runs all February long at Genesis Art Supply. 

Technically this is a unicycle.

There was some conflict over this piece. I don't like it because of the overt brand-name endorsement
But it is technically very nice. The artist made a series of these, all featuring some expensive bike or
name-brand piece of equipment. 

Me-ouch!

The Rat Patrol did a lot of work for this exhibit
This figure is one of theirs. 

More product placement.

What is is with cyclists and gear? That's a stupid question.
But still, is a true-to-life rendering of a mass-produced
piece of technology worthy of feature in a fine art show?
I guess so when it's a bike art show. Brands are a part of
cycling, after all.

Rat Patrol made this interactive piece to crush cans.

This is one of the better renderings of the peleton that I've seen.

Nice helmet!

This bike was made of a bed frame, again by Rat Patrol

Showing us how it's done.

There's the can and the crusher. As you can see the wheel spins and through a
complex of gear the crushy-thing is activated and the can spits right down
into a receptacle. The beer was provided gratis by Revolution Brewing, though they were only doing 8oz pours. 

This dude was there. 

A guy in plaid was there. Surpise surprise.

Unphotoed are pictures from the upstairs, where a man and woman dressed and undressed in winter riding gear to the scandal and delight of the audience. Also a projector screened little videos, mostly about the naked bike ride.
Since this is Chicago, birthplace of house music, a DJ was cutting it up on his MacBook and some people were dancing with surprising abandon for 8pm in a well-lit public place.
Art is fun.