In a racing world where carbon fiber is the holy grail of track performance, San Francisco-based artist BARRY McGEE (aka: Twist) takes us back to the days of cold hard steel with his incredibly unexpected graphic treatment on this TREK Madone 6.9. Created (with the help of our homies at RVCA) in commemoration of LANCE ARMSTRONG’s competition in the TOUR OF CALIFORNIA for the first time this year, Barry’s signature characters populate a carbon fiber frame masterfully altered to resemble a vintage metal race cycle literally “ridden hard and left out in the rain” one too many times. One of Lance’s personal favorite artists, Barry was chosen for the task because of his unique aesthetic sensibilities and acute love of cycling, particularly fixed gear riding which have melded here in new and truly unexpected ways. Launched tonite as Lance’s main ride in his public anti-cancer ride in Hollywood tonite, the bike went on display in NIKE’s MONTALBAN THEATER as part of Lance’s public announcement of the new “Stages” art campaign being waged to help expand the LIVESTRONG foundation’s global anti-cancer fight (more news on that coming to ST soon). HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Barry McGee avoides detection in the tall weeds of OC…

In honor of the relocation of Supertouch homies RVCA to a massive new world HQ building in Costa Mesa, BARRY McGEE (aka: TWIST, Robert Pimple, Lydia Fong, etc.) made sure the building—also home to the brand-supported ANP QUARTERLY art magazine–was embellished in proper fashion.

Here at Supertouch we get sent a LOT of reader photos of art tattoos, but this week’s BARRY McGEE half sleeve takes the cake. And since we’re talking about Mr. TWIST, let’s have a look at the rare walk-through the reclusive artist filmed in conjunction with his recent show under the pseudonym “Lydia Fong” at cutting edge San Francisco gallery RATIO 3:

In what can easily be described as the most unexpected artist product collab of the year, the elusive SF-based artist ROBERT PIMPLE (aka: BARRY McGEE) has teamed with OAKLEY—official eyewear provider to Dog the Bounty Hunter—to create a signature pair of shades reflecting his own unique fashion sense. Featuring wraparound styling and polarized lenses for maximum protection on Mr. Pimple’s lengthy fixed-gear runs through the streets of San Francisco, the extremely limited-edition eyewear comes in custom R. Pimple designed packaging and are also officially certified beer goggles. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Supertouch’s resident world champion cyclist/2009 Tour de France front runner/heavy-duty art collector LANCE ARMSTRONG played host to the second installment of RVCA & CINELLI’s collaborative art exhibition, “Pressure,” this weekend at his own newly-opened cycling shop MELLOW JOHNNY’S in Austin, Tejás. Although the man in yellow couldn’t attend (being strapped into the saddle of a bike at 5:30am everyday to train in the mountains isn’t exactly conducive to partying), Austin’s fixed gear fanatics turned out in droves to ogle the bikes on display customized by a stellar array of artists including BARRY McGEE, PHIL FROST, KAWS, ESPO, ASHLEY MACOMBER, CRAIG STECYK, CLARE ROJAS, DMOTE, and more. The kickoff to a very blurry weekend that began at the art show before sliding over to the nearby 501 STUDIOS where the first-ever installment of the vaunted BICYCLE FILM FESTIVAL was going down, Austinites showed that the fixie movement is alive, well, and flourishing in the Lone Star. To prove the point, San Francisco fixed gearheads/single-speed messiahs MASH dropped in to hold the world premiere screening of their new mini-flick chronicling their recent summer fixie ride through town with Lance. PEEP THE RECAP: Read the rest of this entry »

Street art legend and notorious shapeshifter BARRY McGEE (aka: Ray Fong) surprised San Francisco art fanatics last Friday nite when an unexpected show of his work appeared at RATIO 3 gallery credited to the artist “LYDIA FONG” (his dress-wearing alter ego). For the most part an assemblage of pieces from several recent smaller shows, “A Moment for Reflection: New Work by Lydia Fong” is an amazingly comprehensive survey of all of Barry’s recent stylistic modes with a few new geometric and abstract twists thrown in for good measure (and even an installation of drawings by his gearhead father). HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

The above two pieces of artwork by CLARE ROJAS (left) and BARRY McGEE (right) were recently stolen from the RVCA x CINELLI “Pressure” art exhibition at RVCA’s San Francisco shop at the corner of Haight & Asbury. Both pieces are from private collections and RVCA asks that anyone with any information about their whereabouts please contact shop staff at 415 701 7822. There will be no questions asked of anyone phoning in with information and if the person in possession of the works wishes to return them, no legal action will be taken against anyone. They just want the art back. Anonymous tips can also be emailed to Supertouch staff at Supertouchart@gmail.com. DO THE RIGHT THING…

The must-have art cycle…

Cycling fanatics are no doubt counting the days until the opening of RVCA’s collaborative art show with renowned Italian cycle company CINELLI and an impressive lineup of modern artists including Barry McGee, Ashley Macomber, Clare Rojas, C.R. Stecyk III, Dan Murphy, DMOTE, Jesse Geller, Josh Lazcano, KAWS, Madsaki, Phil Frost, PM Tenore and Stephen Powers on Thursday, June 19th at RVCA’s flagship store in San Francisco and now we’ve got a look at the full run of BARRY McGEE’s special production art bike to be sold at the event. Available as an edition of 50 pieces worldwide in three frame sizes (54, 56 or 58), the cycle will be available as 25 complete bikes and 25 frame-only kits with pricetags of $3,700.00 and $2,100.00 respectively. The run will be available for sale only through RVCA and LANCE ARMSTRONG’s Mellow Johnny’s bike shop in Austin, Texas where the art show will make a stop in late September. Stay tuned for more details to come. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »