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Bike Art, by Kiriakos Iosifidis

 Kiriakos Iosifidis Bike Art Publikat

Title: Bike Art: Bicycles In Art Around The World
Author: Kiriakos Iosifidis (Editor)
Publisher: Publikat
Year: 2011
Pages: 256
Order: Stylefile Mail Order
What it is: A collection of art works inspired by the bicycle.
Strengths: Beautifully produced, wonderfully diverse.
Weaknesses: Could have done with a wee bit more text about the individual contributors. Also: no photography.

Bike Art is one of those books that falls somewhere between pro-bike propaganda and bicycle pornography. With contributions from more that 250 contemporary artists the book showcases the way a host of different people, drawn from around the world, view the bicycle today. The mix is eclectic, ranging from street graffiti artists though to international design studios, with time and space for tattoo artists, cartoonists, performance artists, sculptors, illustrators and painters.

It would be relatively easy for me to waffle on for a couple of thousand words about some of the individual contributors, telling you what's so good about them. Some people have made whole careers out of waffling on about art, it ain't all that hard to do once you master a few tricks of the trade. But Bike Art is one of those books which should be allowed speak for itself.

What follows then is a selection of some of the contributions to the book, along with a few page layout shots to give you a clue as to what the book itself looks like. To save having to blather on about any of the contributors for this peek inside Bike Art's covers I've included links to the artists' websites, where I could find them.

The selection here is pretty much personal, the sort of stuff that fires my fuse, but with so many contributors - this selection covers just twenty-four of the contributors, not even one in ten - it's a safe bet that there's something in Bike Art to satisfy most tastes. Unless you're into crayon-based cycling art, which is totally ignored. I guess Podium Café have cornered the market in that.

URBAN ART
Publikat Bike Art Mart

Mart (c)

PAINTINGS
Publikat Bike Artp Alison Gayne

Alison Gayne (c)

Publikat Bike Art

Page layout example: pages 50-51
Etoe

Publikat Bike Artp James Straffon

James Straffon (c)

Publikat Bike Artp Jeff Parr

Jeff Parr (c)

Publikat Bike Art Steve Dennis

Steve Dennis (c)

Publikat Bike Art

Page layout example: pages 84-85
Taliah Lempert

Publikat Bike Art

Page layout example: pages 86-87
Tiago Dejerk

ILLUSTRATIONS - DRAWINGS
Publikat Bike Art Andy Singer

Andy Singer (c)

Publikat Bike Artp Blanca Gomez

Blanca Gomez (c)

Publikat Bike Art Chris Piascik

Chris Piascik (c)

Publikat Bike Art First Floor Under

First Floor Under (c)

Publikat Bike Art Mads Berg

Mads Berg (c)

Publikat Bike Art Riccar Doguasco

Riccardo Guasco (c)

TATTOOS
Publikat Bike Art ABT Tattoo

ABT Tattoo (c)

SCULPTURES
Publikat Bike Art David Gerstein

David Gerstein (c)

Publikat Bike Art David Kinzett

David Kinzett (c)

Publikat Bike Art

Page layout example: pages 200-201
Mark Grieve & Ilana Spector

Publikat Bike Art

Page layout example: pages 202-203
Agata Olek

TYPES
Publikat Bike Art

Page layout example: pages 214-215
Ralf Kittmann HMK 561 & Reindy Allendra Ibike

Publikat Bike Art Fretsche

Fretsche (c)

Publikat Bike Art

Page layout example: pages 238-239
Duane Flatmo

EXTRA
Publikat Bike Art Bicycle Ballet

Bicycle ballet (photograph by Ray Gibson) (c)

For more details on the artists included, check out the Publikat site.