Pops had his hands full, so he invited  me to check out what  Mike was working on in the studio upstairs.

Responsible for Lowrider Magazine’s logo, countless car culture illustrations, murals on cars across the world, was and still is one of the original lowrider airbrushing craftsman, and a westside legend in pinstriping—Mike is the man.

Mike’s work focuses  on the environment and the cars. In his era when alot of the Chicano figurative work and images like those mastered by Cartoon, and Abel started to revolutionize, Mike, as a whiteboy,  stuck to his bones, treating the architecture and structure of the bombs in the same way. In his eyes, the beauty and finesse of the metal outweighed the women……at least in his paintings.

This is another situation where photos don’t do the image justice. Keep in mind everything is by hand, a mix of acrylic and watercolor airbrushing on classic illustration board.

Airbrushing-aside from flesh, blood, and body types- the precision and tedious process parallel tattooing. Mechanics and the state of the technical equipment  can be a challenge to deal with, not to mention the direct accuracy, consistency, and level of focus each spray has to be delivered with, all under perfect control.

Mike went on to explain his experience back in the day, where lowriding was still a cultural tool to bring people together. For him, the memories of the diversity, lowriding with every homeboy, brothers, from all different colors, neighborhoods, and backgrounds is what keeps him going with these paintings.

But don’t get it twisted, aside from the love and passion his work can bring him, he’s still a serious professional, working in circulation for an upcoming gallery showing. While one is in motion another piece is begun, never letting the momentum stop.

Be sure to check out this recent cover illustration by Mike in the special collector’s edition of 38 Timez.

For the younger kids who gravitate toward  “lowrider culture”, or  ”Los Angeles culture“, or whatever “culture” it’s crucial to know and understand  the roots behind all the visual elements that dictate what you see, what you wear…what you get tattooed… what music you gravitate towards, and everything else - and recognize the people responsible for creating them. It’s so easy to get sucked into the movement of media to miss the level of impact one individual, or one group of people’s creativity has on an entire generation, city, nation and world and the process that was taken to make it. If we can learn to actively dissect that process, instead  of passively watching and waiting for something to happen, then we can recreate it. Advance yourselves.

Rafael came through to continue the collection……..

Unlike Western culture where snakes are looked in the negative, Eastern culture embraces the Symbol as noble, strong and ancient.

We took the freehand process, with a classic traditional Japanese influence and strangled it.

“Serpent” ~first session, oriental collection, lower right sleeve

As simple as ‘freehand’ tattooing might seem, the process that unfolds during any piece is different then your average stencil process. In this sense, the foundation you come from will ultimately determine your finish, and expose the choices you make to interpret the image.

Study, develop and apply.

Don’t feed it–use it.

I can never truly express how grateful I am of this man, and the family at LTS through words.

You’ll just have to see it in the dedication and roots of the work to unfold. Prepare.

For now, we’ll  have to keep the meaning behind this  piece a secret.

Stay tuned.

The root of each plant begins to unfold. What many painters begin to understand is looking through the body as a whole, and just getting to a  point of working at a basic rhythm rather than worry about creating a masterpiece. Each piece starts to hold it’s weight through the imperfections, distortions, flaws and the choices made in the process of a simple idea.

Here’s the early stages with Lily. Working from life always has it’s advantages, our perception is so much sharper when we are face to face. But every once in a while  photographs can capture those  moments what the eyes only see for a second.

“Dancer” ~ oil on wood panel, series collection

After all, you can’t force a baby girl to ‘pose’ for you. Like this moment, Lily spent the first half hour hiding behind her mother when she decided to swirl and dance around the bus stop pole that lasted a second.

Still a ways to go with Lily. Keep working.

“St. Teresa” ~inner bicep, spiritual collection, Bernini

The “Ecstasy of St. Theresa” is another favorite. We decided to make Theresa’s orgasmic expression the focus of the piece.

Bernini’s classic molding of sexuality and spirituality was one of first risk taking actions in the Roman Baroque period.

Keep an eye out for the final session.