I’m very aware that bike geeks like me (and you) have a different view of the world than the vast majority of the world’s bicycle riding population. For a bike geek – as opposed to just a cyclist – the world is viewed as if through bicycle shaped spectacles. We geeks have postcards of bicycles on the fridge door, a ‘my other car is a bicycle‘ bumper sticker on the car and even when we are off the bike (a rare occurance) wear a high-end hand-made courier bag instead of a shoulder bag. We are glared at by our partners when our neck cranes as a pretty/handsome cyclist goes by – until they realise that we were, as always, checking out the bike – not the rider.
So when this particular book arrived for review I jumped for joy. I devoured it from cover to cover and then passed it around the bicycle-mad family I’m lucky enough to share my life with so that they too could stare with wide eyed delight at the wonderful selection of images within. Before devouring it again. It’s an absolute gem of a book.
The publisher’s background is in grafitti art, so it comes as no surprise that urban, outdoor wall art features heavily, and it’s no bad thing. Fine art, sculpture, illustration, tattoo art, graphic design and even industrial design engineering are also covered in detail. Every page is a new joy.
Bike geeks like you and I will see this book as evidence of a resurgence in bicycle culture, reassured that we are not alone, that there’s a world out there of like minded obsessives, making art and riding bikes and mixing it all up in an explosion of creativity the bicycle world has never before witnessed.
Seriously. It’s fantastic.
If you ride a bike or if you like art (and who doesn’t?) you’ll like this book a lot.
But if you’re a bike geek… you will love it. That’s a promise.
BIKE ART – Bicycles in art around the world By Kiriakos Losifidis is published by Publikat. ISBN: 978-3-939566-37-3
This is the cover blurb…
” The bicycle is one of the most popular means of transportation around the world. It gives us the possibility to be as free as we want to be. We use it for transportation, sports, and fun. The equipment can vary from cheap to expensive, from athletic to comfortable; for each need you can find a bicycle that meets your expectations.
Within the last years more and more people have been addicted to bicycling. Some because they want to move along eco-friendly, others because they rediscovered the fun and action one experiences while riding stunning trails or tricky fun parks challenging ones fitness and competing with other riders. Or just because it is the most flexible vehicle in car-crowded cities. For those people the bicycle is not just a means of transportation. It represents their way of life and their individuality.
This deep relation inspired a lot of them to express their passion in artworks dealing with bikes or using the bicycle itself as canvas or as a source of inspiration to reinvent the bike. With this volume, author Kiriakos Iosifidis welcomes you to a panorama of all kinds of works that are inspired by the bicycle. It is a collection of colourful bicycle graffiti, paintings, remarkable bicycle designs, complex constructions, and various types of bicycles one can find on the streets around the world. More than 250 international artists, illustrators, painters, sculptors, industrial designers, photographers, organizations, and anonymous citizens present their works of art and give us insight into their personal views and relations to these charming two-wheeled vehicles.
BIKE ART includes Artists like:
ETOE, JEFF PARR, KEVIN NIERMAN, KO MASUDA, MWM, PETER J. KUDLATA, TALIAH LEMPERT, ADAM TURMAN, ALAIN DELORME, ANDY SINGER, ILOVEDUST, KEN AVIDOR, MADS BERG, MIKE GIANT, MONA CARON, PAT PERRY, WILL MANVILLE, CARO, DAVID GERSTEIN, DZINE, MARK GRIEVE & ILANA SPECTOR, OLEK, IGOR RAVBAR, KEVIN CYR, DUANE FLATMO, EL NIÑO DE LAS PINTURA, STINKFISH, SWOON, TIKA and many more.
Author Kiriakos Iosifidis is author of the MURAL ART book series. This time he managed to unite artists and people of different disciplines who all share one passion: bikes! BIKE ART is an effort to support the bicycle as a means of transportation, a statement of sustainability, as well as to celebrate it as a lifestyle that exists throughout society and across borders. “
