Art and decor in high gear

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CRUISE-WORTHY CARS AND GARAGES FUEL ARTIST’S IMAGINATION

By Nancy Harper

CHARGING AHEAD Bill Hagan is not only an artist, but also a classic car buff. Hagan, shown here in his 1967 Charger, merges these two interests in an exhibition at Edissi Fine Arts Gallery in Kitchener this month.

Photography • Jesse Brenneman

GARAGEART: THE EXHIBITION

AS BUILDING AND decorating trends have evolved over the years, so too have homeowners’ relationships with the humble garage. The days of simply hanging up a few tools on a two-by-four stud wall are, it seems, long gone.

In fact, the connection between the car, the garage and the home is stronger than ever. And it seems that what’s inside the garage — especially if it’s something fabulously cool like, say, a ’67 Charger — can inspire some pretty fabulous art. Artist Bill Hagan is a case in point, with his show Garageart opening this month at Edissi

When: Grand opening on Thursday, Sept. 8.

The show runs for six weeks.

Where: Edissi Fine Arts Gallery, 907 Frederick St., Kitchener.

What: Photographs, abstract paintings and contemporary, interactive pieces.

Featuring: A special weekend (Sept. 10 and 11) with an open invitation to car enthusiasts to bring their cars to the large parking lot at Edissi, do some socializing and check out the exhibition.

Fine Arts Gallery in Kitchener.

“This idea that you put the car in the garage and it drips oil on the floor and it’s a messy room is going by the wayside,”

ARTIST’S PROCESS Artist Bill Hagan’s photo (above) of a 1955 Chevy Belair shows the inspiration for his painting called 55 13 (left), which picks up the car’s distinctive blue-green and white colour scheme. The car is part of a collection of Chevys owned by Walter Scott, who lives near Cambridge.

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says Hagan, who is also a classic-car devotee. “You’re seeing people making a big investment. The garage is for entertaining, for showing off your vehicles. It’s about good lighting, it’s about storage.

People are seeing that the garage and the house are all connected.”

So even if your own garage seems hopelessly beyond redemption — featuring little more than a worse-for-wear Ford Escort, say, and a smattering of rusty garden tools — perhaps it’s worth a second look and a bit of TLC.

“The garage is an extension of the home,” Hagan adds. “It’s like, my car now comes into the home. A lot of people, especially people with collectible cars, are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars building a collection. They’ve got maybe a halfmillion dollars worth of cars and a garage that is maybe drywall and a light bulb in the ceiling and they’re saying: ‘This isn’t right. Why am I not treating my garage like any other room in the house?’ ” So what would be the ultimate garage for someone like Hagan, whose love of cars

has morphed into a unique art form?

“The ultimate garage is a space you’re comfortable in,” Hagan says. “One person’s idea might be the polished floor and metal cabinets and amazing halogen lights.

Another person might not be too comfortable in that. It’s got to be this comfort room between the inside and outside of your house. Maybe it’s the only room that’s cluttered and messy — but maybe having a messy garage is the coolest thing in the world for them.

“The garage is probably today’s attic,”

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ART AND INSPIRATION Bill Hagan explains the works shown here as follows:

1 Painting JUDGEment was inspired by the Pontiac GTO Judge, which was available in solid primary colours. The model name The Judge was part of the pinstripe decal.

2 Painting AMC RWB was inspired by the American Motors Corporation’s love of the U.S.A.’s red, white and blue; the Rambler American and the AMC Rebel both came in patriotic flag colours.

3 Painting Orangster was inspired by the stylized flames along with the pin-striping and metallic paint finishes on customized cars. A Roadster Hot rod was the street name for these customized cars in the ’50s and ’60s. Orangster comes from the combination of orange (flames) and roadster.

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5 Photo DeSoto Dashboard has several different light blues along with the chrome trim, buttons and knobs that make for a very calming image. Matching and combining colours from different materials (metal, plastic and fabric) was a difficult task. This dash certainly works.

On the opening weekend of Bill Hagan’s art show, enthusiasts can display their cars at the large parking lot at Edissi Fine Arts Gallery. Above, Hagan’s 1967 Charger is joined by gallery owner Dennis Edissi’s 2000 Cobra AC, a factory-made replica of a 1965 AC Cobra.

Photography • Jesse Brenneman 5

Hagan adds. “It’s where you put things that you don’t want in your day-to-day life. but you certainly don’t want to part with.

It’s almost like you’re digging through layers of storage and history. I’m sure that the people with immaculate garages have a room in their house somewhere that has everything.”

As for what his own dream garage would contain, that’s a no-brainer for Hagan. He’s got a penchant for the flashy metallics and dazzling chrome of the classics era. He already owns a ’67 Charger and an ’86 Shelby Charger, but if he had more money and a lot more space, he’d have 10 more.

Meantime, he demonstrates his passion for cars through his other passion: art.

“For me, the images of cars, since I was a child, is sort of an obsession,” Hagan says.

“The whole idea is a way to connect with another community of people. Trying to take those images and use them as the material to

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generate the painting is a neat process.

“The car theme is a way for me to relate to a whole new audience, maybe people who have no interest in going to a gallery.

If they could relate to the fact that I’m obsessed with classic cars, now they’re seeing the connection between the two.”

Garageart is the third solo show for this former Southwood High School student in Cambridge and Ontario College of Art graduate. It will showcase up to 40 paintings and 30 photos of Hagan’s garageinspired art, celebrating the chrome, colours and reflections that fuel nostalgiafilled cruise nights all over North America.

Nostalgia inspired by classic cars is nothing new. What is new is that art lovers are feeling freer to bring garageinspired contemporary art into their homes. Hagan acknowledges that there has always been a reluctance to display automotive images inside, but it’s a bias he’s

working hard at changing.

“I think the reluctance has always been that car art was considered to be nostalgic and/or promotional. Now car art can be contemporary, it can be abstract, it can be something a little further away from nostalgic or kitsch art. If somebody’s doing contemporary art driven by classic-car design, then that’s something that bridges the gap.

“Everybody gets a little something different from it,” he says. “When someone looks at garage art, a car person will say, ‘I see a certain colour or chrome.’ A non-car person sees something totally different and it can be appealing to both.

“For me, painting is all about someone getting some type of an emotional response. What I’m trying to do is grab that nostalgic thing and move it into a contemporary setting.”

It’s probably safe to say that not too

4 Photo V8 Chrome is the reflection from the grill element of a ’50s pickup. There are some interesting reflections from the sky, the parking lot and taillights throughout the chrome.

6 Photo Mustang Chrome shouts out liquid chrome like the mercury that was in old style thermometers. The blue in the centre glows like neon or today’s LED lights.

ULTIMATE ROAD TRIP FOR A GARAGE ARTIST “My Dad’s dark-green 1966 Charger. That was the first car I was crazy about. I was eight years old. The windows are all the way down and the old-style air vents are wide open so it feels like you’re in a convertible. It’s a warm sunny afternoon on a winding country road alongside the Grand or the Nith rivers, crossing numerous bridges along the way from Galt and Paris to Ayr, Plattsville and New Hamburg.”

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—Bill Hagan, artist and classic-car buff

AND WHAT’S PLAYING ON THE RADIO? DRIVING SONGS, OF COURSE. BILL HAGAN’S TOP 5: • Radar Love by Golden Earring • Life in the Fast Lane by the Eagles • Running on Empty by Jackson Browne • Let’s Go by the Cars • Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads

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October

Breast Cancer Event For every Bra sold during the month of October we will donate $5 to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation 15 Main Street Cambridge Ontario Canada, N1R 7G9 In Support of

519 623 2450 info@rosalinds.ca ONTARIO

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many folks will ever be nostalgic for a Toyota Tercel. So what is it about cars from the ’50s through to the ’70s that inspires such an emotional response?

“The designers in those years had a whole different way of looking at cars,” Hagan explains. “The technology of building cars was metal and chrome. They had to play with different materials than they do today. If you look at the cars from those three decades, the amount of shine and reflection and the detail —whether it be the steering wheel, the stick shifts, the bumpers, the headlights — it’s almost like it was an art.

“The designer was trying to give a little flare to the car because back then cars were sold just as much on style as on utilitarian purpose. Visual appeal was the first selling feature of a car.”

Throughout his varied career as an industrial designer, logistics specialist, and sales and marketing VP in the Toronto area, Hagan has always felt the pull of his more creative side. So these days, whether he is teaching art at schools, doing photo workshops, consulting or painting, his passion for art is a full-time gig.

The Edissi exhibition takes his passion for North American-made muscle cars — with their tail fins, crazy designs and wild colours — and adds his own contemporary twist.

And gallery owner Dennis Edissi puts the appeal of Garageart down to a very distinctive style.

“I’m very much into cars myself and I’ve got a garage full of antique cars,” Edissi says. “With cars, there seems to be a common denominator to a certain degree.

I look at certain artists who have very, very distinctive styles, as cars did several years ago. The association between the two, when I take a look at a car, I think that the person was extremely creative — the sweep, the lines, the sleekness.

“I think (Garageart) is very unique, creative, sensational art. It’s very different.

It’s something you’re not going to see in other galleries.”