Renaissance & Rebellion - Flipbook - Page 68
The decades of the 1940s and ‘50s, the period when four of the five
California Locos artists were born—John Van Hamersveld (1941), Gary
Wong (1944), Norton Wisdom (1947) and Chaz Bojórquez (1949)—(Dave
Tourjé was born in 1960)—also saw the rise and triumph of youth culture.
From cars and fashion to sports and music, youth culture permeated all
aspects of American society, especially in Los Angeles with its long days, open
space and mild climate. Drive-in movies, drive-up restaurants and street racing
became an important part of life for car-dependent youth. Soon custom cars,
lowriders and hot rods, “rolling sculptures” as they have been called, took
hold. Merging life and art, the cars reflected the identities of their drivers
and became powerful symbols for those seeking to rebel against the perceived
conformity of the times or to otherwise liberate themselves from various
social restraints. Two of the most prominent customizers of cars, hot rods and
motorcycles were Kenny Howard, a.k.a. “Von Dutch” and Ed “Big Daddy”
Roth. The innovative designs of these L.A. natives were highly influential
within their circles and without, and certainly were on the California Locos
as well. Another influential figure was Robert Williams who worked for Roth
and developed his iconoclastic painting style known as Pop Surrealism. Aside
from his major impact on the Lowbrow art movement as a painter, he went
on to help co-found the largest art magazine in the world—Juxtapoz Art &
Culture Magazine. He is also credited with starting the “Rat Rod” movement
having built the first one, these hybrid hotrods being characterized by their
highly customized, deliberately worn and incomplete finishes. Outside of
car culture there was Rick Griffin. Considered by the Locos as an “original
Loco,” Griffin grew up with John Van Hamersveld in Palos Verdes and went
to Chouinard with him and Gary Wong. He developed his unique and
iconoclastic drawing style that changed the course of surf and rock graphics.
He influenced Chaz Bojórquez’s style and Chaz wrote the catalog forward
to the Griffin retrospective at the Laguna Art Museum’s Heart and Torch:
Rick Griffin’s Transcendence show in 2007. As surfers and artists, he deeply
influenced both Norton Wisdom and Dave Tourjé as well.
In the mid-1950s, rock and roll emerged as the music of adolescence, sparking
a revolution in dance, fashion and cultural identity. This laid the groundwork for
future street and youth-driven music genres and scenes including hard rock, punk,
rap, hardcore, grunge and techno, that would have their own associated modes of
dressing, dancing and lifestyles. The social upheaval of the ‘60s and hippie culture
then informed the ‘70s. For the California Locos artists, art, street culture and
music have always been intertwined.
Opposite, top to bottom, L-R:
Ian Glen Clark, early SoCal hotrodding, 1940s;
Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Robert Williams;
Robert Williams in his early “Rat rod”
Robert Williams, The Word “What?” Used To
Suggest Intellectual Investigation, 2018,
Oil on canvas, 20” x 24”
Rick Griffin with Boyd Elder’s
El Chingadero poster, San Clemente, 1971
CALIFORNIA 130
LOCOS
RENAISSANCE
131
REBELLION
