Art Garage: BOMONSTER

I’ve Got An Itch You Can Scratch

Today in the Art Garage I get the pleasure to introduce you to a relatively new artist here in Southern California. BOMONSTER.

I found him at the Good-guys Del Mar Nationals in April. He was tucked away in the vendors building. He had a great looking booth with bold graphics and striking designs. I had to stop and say hello.

Bo was there with his wife at their first-ever event. Not only did I find his work refreshing, but he mentioned how fellow artists had helped him get his start. Max Grundy, ACME, Keith Weesner, etc., all gave him tips on designing his booth and which shows to go to. It’s neat to know that competing interests have a sense of camaraderie to elevate the entire profession.

I also ran into him at the Viva Las Vegas Show. This time he brought his teen-age son to help out. BOMONSTER likes going to shows and get feedback from people at the events. People will ask him for a specific car, but, Bo prefers to create art that reflects the era or genre rather than portraits if you will. Although he is considering commissions.

So what’s so bitchen about BOMONSTER? Scratchboard. Yep, that’s right. He works in a traditional method. Scratchboard is basically black ink spread thin on illustration board. The artist then takes a series of knives and scratches away the ink to – as Michaelangelo would say: “Release the image from within.” I just think it is FAR-OUT! I tried scratchboard a couple times in art school and found it to be both challenging and rewarding. When you get it right. And BOMONSTER gets it right. Gouge too deep and the layers of the board material show through, don’t dig deep enough gets you a messy line. But like all art, the magic is in the drawing. I found BOMONSTER has a great eye for design and composition.

An avid gearhead and motorcycle racer, Bo is in the thick of the genre. He grew up on Southern California with a father who built and owned race cars going to drags at San Gavriel, Fontana, Colton, Pomona and the famed Lions. At 14 he learned to drive “sideways” on El Mirage. His father was a commercial artist and published a motorcycle race results paper and had is own small ad agency. That’s how he met Ed Roth..

What was it like to meet Ed Roth?

BO: I was like 10 or so and tagging along with my dad who placed the ads that Ed Newton and Robert Williams created for Ed in the car magazines. Ed was covered in plaster and working on shaping the body for the “Bike/Truck.” He was larger-than-life and super-nice guy to kids. While he talked to my dad about business, I looked around a little and was shocked to find an office full of opened mail for all his T-shirt orders. Everyone must have paid in quarters those days because there thousands of them stacked, piled and falling everywhere. I had never seen so much money before in my life!

What is your own professional background?

BO: Advertising. I’ve had an entire career art directing campaigns for Nissan, Porche, Acura, Apple, Yamaha, Honda, and on and on. I still have my own creative services business and recently designed some concept trucks for Toyota’s marketing group which have been seen at the last two SEMA shows. One was named “One of the top 10 Concept Cars of the Year” by Automobile magazine. It has been a great experience developing ideas but not so great developing my art skills.

Why is that?

BO: It turns out the more responsibilities you have in an ad agency the more you hire other people to finish your ideas. The good part was having the budgets to hire some really interesting people with skills far better than my own to bring my ideas to life. But the downside was not having the time to do it myself. With my scratchboard work I can now spend my time developing my art chops while utilizing my concept skills learned in advertising.

Tell us what you mean by “concept skills?”

BO: The concept is the idea behind the drawing. Also described as the narrative, it allows the viewer to connect emotionally with the visual. A technically perfect rendering of a ’57 Chevy on a drop shadow isn’t nearly as interesting as a loosely drawn ’57 Chevy parked on the street with the driver talking to some girls in the background. There are many talented illustrators who can do the former better than me so I am trying to be different by focusing on the latter.

Is “being different’ important? After all, to an outsider most hot rod art looks similar.

BO: As in advertising, fine art and popular music, being different is what sets you apart from the crowd and gets you noticed. Fundamental skills are required and absolutely the first step but finding your own style is more important than drawing perfect lines. The balance we have to find is that we’re all drawing from the same car cultural icons and references. We can’t be so different that the work doesn’t connect to a hot rod heritage. As I work on my own stuff I think about what I like about the styles of Ed Newton, Robert Crumb, Stanley Mouse, Rick Griffin and Bill Campbell but more than likely they were thinking about Tex Avery, Basil Wolverton, Harry Chester, Salvador Dali and Walt Disney before that. The Beatles were only trying to do Little Richard and Elvis at the beginning. The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin started with early Chicago blues but clearly gave it their own spin. There is no fast way to success but a big short cut is to look around at everything that’s being done –acknowledge what’s great- and do something else.

 

As you may have seen in either his art or in the interview, BOMONSTER is a very pleasant person.  I look forward to seeing him and his family at more shows. Take a look at his website for more information and sign-up for his eNews to ge the latest news and announcements of winners of his artwork. http://www.BOMONSTER.com