Supertouch buddy LANCE ARMSTRONG has added his custom SHEPARD FAIREY-designed TREK Madone cycle into rotation as he rides in the 100th edition of the legendary GIRO D’ITALIA race in support of teammate LEVI LEIPHEIMER. With a matching Shepard Fairey-designed brain bucket to boot, Lance is sporting a coordinated ensemble that even Bruno would give an enthusiastic “Ach ja.”
*Watch live feed of the Giro daily HERE…
Tex warms up with airy mags in place…
Rolling through Venice, Italy, on the opening day of his first-ever run in the country’s legendary GIRO D’ITALIA race, LANCE ARMSTRONG helped bring his ASTANA team in third place atop his new Supertouch-curated KENNY SCHARF custom-designed TREK TTX cycle in today’s time trial. Recovering from his recent broken collarbone, Armstrong has stated that hopes of winning the centennial edition of the Italian race is out of the question while he strives to regain race shape in support of teammate LEVI LEIPHEIMER in the three week tour of Italy. SHEPARD FAIREY’s custom Trek Madone hits the pavement tomorrow, keep an eye on ST for first looks…
Kenny’s art wheels in place for today’s time trial…
Just another day at the office…
If you want something done right…
Lance inspects his Kenny Scharf-designed Trek TTX time trial bike (sans art wheels for now) with legendary coach Johan Bruyneel…
Stationed in Venice, Italy for the kickoff of this year’s GIRO D’TALIA on Saturday, Supertouch buddy LANCE ARMSTRONG has just gotten his new KENNY SCHARF and SHEPARD FAIREY-designed TREK art cycles up and running and ready to hit the hills in the grand tour’s epic centennial run. The 2009 Giro d’Italia celebrates the race’s 100 year legacy—from Ganna to Contador—with a spectacular and unexpected route. It lacks the massive, mythical mountain passes and its final stage ends in the south for the first time in years. Riders will visit all of Italy’s great cities including Venezia, Trieste, Milano, Torino, Firenze, Bologna, Napoli and Roma, and delivers deceptively difficult stages in the second half of the event. Stay tuned to ST for updates throughout the three-week run…
As if LANCE ARMSTRONG’s Supertouch-curated custom SHEPARD FAIREY-designed TREK MADONE road cycle wasn’t enough to snap necks at this month’s GIRO D’ITALIA race, helmet company GIRO has just created a matching lid to up the ante. Incorporating swaths of graphics from Shep’s race bike the helmet might just see the light of day on store shelves as an incredibly limited-edition run with proceeds from sales going to benefit LIVESTRONG. Keep an eye on ST for more updates in the coming week, including the chance to win one of the coveted brain buckets…
Where your brain could end up without one of these lids…
Creating SHEPARD FAIREY’s new TREK MADONE racing cycle for LANCE ARMSTRONG’s run in this month’s GIRO D’ITALIA was no easy task. Luckily, Trek artist SHANE SIEDSCHLAG is nice with a blade and a decal sheet…
When pressed about Shep’s new bike in Rome today, Lance told an AP reporter: “I’m a fan of his artwork. I collect his artwork. The bike that he did for this race I think is pretty stunning.”
In a world exclusive we’re happy to reveal the first full look at LANCE ARMSTRONG’s newly completed Supertouch-curated TREK art bikes designed for his run in the upcoming GIRO D’ITALIA by artists SHEPARD FAIREY and KENNY SCHARF. The world’s most prestigious cycling stage race after the legendary Tour de France, the Giro is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2009 and a lengthy run through several historic cities was designed to honor the event. Coincidentally this is also the only year Lance has ever entered the race, a historic first for the cancer crusading cyclist who broke his collarbone last month in a Spanish race. Lending their formidable creative talents to the challenge, Shepard and Kenny created two vastly different and utterly unique cycles to draw attention to Lance’s upcoming NIKE-backed “STAGES” anti-cancer art show benefiting LIVESTRONG that will debut on July 16th in Paris at GALERIE EMMANUEL PERROTIN during the TDF. Getting up on Lance’s “daily driver” Trek Madone road bike, Shepard Fairey created a vibrant homage to Lance’s cancer fighting foundation while including ancient patterning in honor of Italy’s rich architectural details. NYC Pop Art legend Kenny Scharf took a totally different approach to Lance’s Trek TTX time trial cycle and created the “lightspeed” space bike that will hopefully hurtle Tex across the finish line in record time. Both bikes will be auctioned off on October 2nd (10/2 marks the date of Lance’s original cancer diagnosis) at the NYC stop of the “Stages” art tour at the historic Park Ave Armory with all proceeds going to benefit Livestrong. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »
Here we have the very first sneek peek at LANCE ARMSTRONG’s newly completed Supertouch-curated TREK art bikes for his run in the upcoming GIRO d’ITALIA by artists SHEPARD FAIREY and KENNY SCHARF. The world’s most prestigious cycling stage race after the legendary Tour de France, the Giro is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2009, coincidentally the first year Lance has ever entered the race. Lending their formidable creative talents to the challenge, Shepard and Kenny created two vastly different and utterly unique cycles to draw attention to Lance’s upcoming NIKE-backed “STAGES” anti-cancer art show benefiting LIVESTRONG that will debut on July 16th in Paris at GALERIE EMMANUEL PERROTIN during the TDF. Getting up on Lance’s “daily driver” Trek Madone road bike, Shepard Fairey created a vibrant homage to Lance’s cancer fighting foundation while including ancient patterning in homage of Italy’s rich architectural details. NYC Pop Art legend Kenny Scharf took a totally different approach to Lance’s Trek TTX time trial cycle and created the “lightspeed” space bike that will hopefully hurtle Tex across the finish line in record time. Both bikes will be auctioned off on October 2nd (10/2 marks the date of Lance’s original cancer diagnosis) at the NYC stop of the “Stages” art tour with all proceeds going to benefit Livestrong. Look for detailed official photos of both bikes here on ST in the next few days. Meanwhile, ENJOY THE PEEK: Read the rest of this entry »
As part of the Supertouch-curated “STAGES” anti-cancer art show set to debut in Paris during this year’s TOUR DE FRANCE, LIVESTRONG founder LANCE ARMSTRONG has sent a call out to cancer survivors who want to be immortalized in one of the show’s artworks to submit their personal data by this Friday, April 1st, by clicking HERE. A world-class artist who shall remain nameless until the show’s debut on July 16th at the esteemed GALERIE EMMANUEL PERROTIN will be creating an original work incorporating the names of hundreds of cancer survivors which will hang alongside new works by such participating artists as Cai Guo-Qiang, Ed Ruscha, Taryn Simon, Shepard Fairey, Richard Prince, Rosson Crow, Raymond Pettibon, KAWS, Eric White, Barry McGee, Christopher Wool, Marc Newson, Catherine Opie, and Os Gemeos, to name a few. Produced by NIKE as a benefit for the LIVESTRONG foundation, the show was conceived to engage the global creative community in a greater dialogue about the imminent threat posed by the cancer burden and the organization’s ultimate message of survivorship—the core reason behind Lance’s return to the sport in 2009. Keep an eye on ST for more “Stages” updates coming soon, and if you’re a cancer survivor, don’t forget to drop your name HERE by April 1st!
McFly on the wall: Survivors Michael J. Fox and Lance at Casa Armstrong in Austin, Tejás today…
Lance and Ed Ruscha talk art and Ed plans his next masterpiece based around Livestrong’ new bionic clavicle…
There’s only one superhuman whose life that headline could apply to in reference to the span of a mere two weeks. Of course, the freak of nature in question just happens to be Supertouch’s own resident cycle killer LANCE ARMSTRONG. After debuting his new KAWS designed TREK MADONE in the legendary MILAN-SANREMO race on March 21st only to crash it and his now shattered collarbone in the Spanish classic VUELTA CASTILLA Y LEON race two days later, the seemingly indestructible hard charger is now the proud owner of a new clavicle implant that looks suspiciously like twelve drywall screws and a piece of old bender board. Of course, we gave up a career in professional sports medicine and surgery years ago so our frame of reference might be a bit outdated. Now on the mend and back on the bike in preparation of his scheduled runs in June’s GIRO and the TOUR DE FRANCE in July, ol’ Livestrong managed to log some bro time at the house in Austin last week with visiting LA art legend ED RUSCHA who was in town for a lecture at UT. Currently hitting the mountains hard at altitude in Aspen, the man with nine lives is proving that the term unstoppable was in fact originally coined in reference to him. Keep an eye on ST for updates from the road, and a sneek peek at Lance’s upcoming round of new artist-designed race bikes. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »
This year's installment of the legendary SOUTH x SOUTHWEST music festival in Austin, Texas again proved to be one of the last fleeting moments of relevancy in a modern music world gone post-apocalyptic. Aside from washed-up metal has-beens Metallica playing a gig in honor of their new signature Guitar Hero video game (if only Satan would rise up and strike them down now, lord), the dusty Texas town played host to a staggering array of ripping new talent proving there might still be hope for Hollywood—if not the big box chain record store—yet. On the scene to wheatpaste the town red, white, and black was Supertouch's own SHEPARD FAIREY who went big on the side of LANCE ARMSTRONG's personal bike shop, MELLOW JOHNNY'S immediately after touching down. He pretty much slammed the rest of the town too. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »
Last weekend saw the DAMIEN HIRST’s first grand spectacle of 2009 when his daunting career retrospective “Requiem” opened at the PINCHUK ART CENTER in the unlikely city of Kiev, Ukraine. Not exactly known as an epicenter of fine art (unless you count the Ukrainian girls, that is), resident steel billionaire and obsessed Hirst collector VICTOR PINCHUK aims to change that by launching the epic visual spectacle that includes over 100 works (a vast amount of which came from Pinchuk’s private collection) by the British artist from 1998 – 2008 in his own privately funded art palace that holds the title as the largest private museum in the former Soviet Union. The fact that this grandiose show of power comes at a time when…
It is truly with a heavy heart that we must break the news that one of Supertouch’s dear friends, photographer SHAWN MORTENSEN, passed away last nite. A kinetic force of optimism and seemingly limitless positive energy, Shawn’s hearty career as a photojournalist and artist took him around the world several times over, unselfishly spreading his endless supply of good vibes as he went. Particularly renowned for his portraits of musicians, artists, and entertainers, Shawn photographed a stunning array of pop culture demigods in his 20+ year career including…
As a director of some of the most acclaimed highbrow B-movies of all time, Supertouch amigo JOHN WATERS needs no further introduction. Quietly working the night shift as a fine artist for years now, the Baltimore-bound obsessive’s hard work has finally landed him a spot in the most hallowed hall of the modern art world, namely, the GAGOSIAN GALLERY, where the artist’s solo “Rear Projection” show opened to a throng of Hollywood players, weirdos, fanboys and girls, and well-wishing lookie-loos on Saturday nite. Comprised largely of C-prints of photos Waters has taken of TV screens bearing his favorite stills from movies of all kinds, the works pulse with the raw humor and dry wit that is Waters’ hallmark…
To officially launch the LIVESTRONG “Stages” benefit art show (full details below) powered by NIKE that will debut during LANCE ARMSTRONG’s run in this year’s TOUR DE FRANCE, an epic kickoff celebration was held on Saturday nite at Nike’s MONTALBAN THEATER in the heart of Hollywood.
KAWS‘ anxiously anticipated new show “The Long Way Home,” opened its doors to an absolutely massive crowd at HONOR FRASER gallery in LA last nite, with a queue that wrapped entirely around the block (and then some) for the duration of the frenzied two-hour opening. KAWS’ incredibly well behaved legion of faithful followers did their best to make the Brooklyn-based artist feel welcome in his first west coast solo exhibition that featured new paintings (the largest of which went to collector and Supertouch buddy Lance Armstrong), sculptures, a 20″ solid bronze Chum figure and a new series of “Kurfs” and Spongebob package paintings that were spoken for well before the opening festivities kicked off.
J O'Shea/Editor
Shepard Fairey
Everlast
Dr Romanelli
Lupe Fiasco
Billy Gibbons
Christian Parkes
Davey Havok
Eric White
Erik Foss
Christian Hosoi
Josh Davis
Kenna
Mark Ryden
Masa/Three Tides
Sarah/Colette
Scott Campbell
Tim Biskup
WK Interact
Donny Miller
Lance Mountain
James Jean
Andy Cruz
Adam Glickman
Ron English
Jose Parla
D* Face
Eric Nakamura
Nathan Cabrera
Kostas Seremetis
Phil Frost
Kyle Ng
Suitman