Gregg Rochester is a very successful painter of large canvases depicting nature scenes that are an amalgam of reality and his imagination. People have bought his work in galleries from coast to coast. He lives in Wisconsin and like me, loves to cycle through the farm country where he lives. While out for a ride one afternoon, the idea of painting bicycles struck him. He began buying bicycle parts and building the bikes he would paint upon. The idea was a huge success, and before long he had enough bikes for a gallery showing: Gregg’s “Le Tour d’Art” was born and began exhibiting in a number of Midwest galleries. He began painting canvases with bicycle themes, too. “My original concept was to encourage my patrons to use the painted bicycle as a sculptural piece, hanging it on the wall…
Photography by Grant Kreinberg
Artist’s Statement: I did not start out to be an artist. My education and experience has been as a civil engineer. But I got my first camera when I was about 12 and never really put it down. My photographic interests lean toward nature and the outdoors, probably as a result of my work. I’ve gotten into the habit of carrying a camera with me wherever I go. When something catches my eye, I photograph it. Please click on each photo for a larger view. This is a car roof, taken at a custom car show in Santa Maria, CA last year. I call it “A Different View of the Universe” because it reminds me of the rings of Saturn. *** Two Barn Abstracts. These were shot in an old barn at Point Reyes,…
Gregg Rochester’s New “Pucci” Bike Art
We featured Gregg Rochester’s bicycle painting a few months ago. Recently, he was commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art to paint a one-of-a-kind bike for their latest exhibition, “Italian Style,” which was on display at the Institute in early 2015. It’s called the Pucci Bike because it is using the fabric designs of famed Italian clothing designer, Emilio Pucci. Here are the left and right views of Gregg’s Pucci Bike. Please click on the images for a larger, more detailed view. You can see more closeup details, along with a list of the components he used to build the Pucci bike, at Gregg’s bike art site, as well as many of the other bikes he’s painted. He assembles the components and builds each bike himself. Where in the heck did he find a blue chain?