I had soooo much fun with this piece. It also made me nauseous and dizzy.
Read the bottom about how to get a piece of tricycle painted canvas with a portion of the money going to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
on with the blog!
This piece went through so many different designs before finally settling on this one. At one point the piece was going to be 150feet by 100feet (I’m glad I didn’t go that route!). When I finally set about designing this I knew I wanted to really utilize the grooves in the tricycle tires to add some texture to the piece but they couldn’t be too distracting. I picked the size based on that.
Putting the tricycle together was really time consuming because I had very little metal to attach my extension to. After getting the extension figured out I quickly attached the bucket, tubing, and wrapped it all with electrical tape. I ended up at the hardware store dozens of times on this piece and when I went to get paint I had my colors picked out that I wanted and got an inquisitive look from the guy, cause you gotta admit these would be unusual colors for a room.
The recording challenges were interesting as well. I rigged up a holder for one camera and screwed it to the ceiling…. didn’t work… I put a wide angle lens on it… didn’t work …. I put another wide angle lens on it utilizing a friend of mine, scotch tape. The camera looked rather silly with a dozen yards of scotch tape holding the lenses on but it did the job.
I was all ready to paint and was trying to figure out if the paint would actually go through the tubes. I ran a test tube (ha) and found I would have to water it down pretty well…. actually I figured this out after some trial and error. In the video you can see the blue paint going on pretty slowly so I had to keep watering it down. Even at a good mixture it took over an hour to apply some of the colors because I had to ride over every inch of the piece. I averaged about one color a day and ended up riding on my tricycle for over 6 hours. My butt hurt a bit, the seat is not made for an adult.
Some pictures and explanations
This is a great example of how the paint went onto the canvas. I cut stencils out of plastic and laid them on the canvas, rode around applying paint, then took off the plastic to show the paint applied exactly where I wanted it. This was how I achieved detail in such a small area. And here in the photo is the tricycle with the blue stencil.
Some paint on the plastic stencil
In progress. You can see a few spots where the paint got through the plastic into a place it shouldn’t be. Fixed with a light touch up later.
A close up so you can see the imprint made by the tires. I really liked this look.
I took some extra yellow and made covered this canvas. I will be cutting this piece up and giving it away with purchase of a poster on or before May 1st. Also all purchases made on or before May 1st will have a portion of their proceeds given to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. We’ll see what gets made with the little items they send out upon donation. woo!
Hope you liked the piece! It was a blast to put together.
phil
Wow. Just wow.
Your conceptions inspire me! Your patients astound me! Your dedication is AMAZING! Thank you for being a great artist/performance artist. Good luck on future endevers!
Are you kiddding me? That was awesome!! Maybe the best one yet?? Although, it’s hard to say as so many of your pieces are excellent. What a pleasure to watch first thing in the morning! Thanks for sharing…
This is an amazing piece. very good job! Cant wait to see what you come up with next!
thanks……. inspiring
AMAZING!!!!!!
This is a stunning work of creativity, that’s about the only way I can put it.
I was checking your website almost every day to see if you’d made a new piece. Now that it’s finally done, I think it’s one of your most creative pieces EVER!!
hey phil! you seem to be a source of endless creativity, inspiration, originality and ingenuity. I admire your work and you as an individual!
i loved this piece but also the fact that you seem to have had a lot of fun with it.
didn’t you become dizzy from all that circling around? lol the tricycle jump as absolutely hilarious!
I can’t wait for the next one!
you are my favourite. AMAZING. please please keep them coming!
phil,
you’re one of the greatest artists ever!
I absolutely loved this! You seemed like you had soooo much fun with it! I was literally hysterically laughing during some parts of the vid!!! Not only were you entertaining but the end result was amazing as well!
p.s. I LOVED the trike bunny hop! I try to do it on my mountain bike but usually fail miserably!
Great piece Phil – your energy, resourcefulness, creativity…. and especailly your ability to let it go in the end, inspires me….
Not to mention the donation to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
This was great. I enjoy your performances so much, and the art is fantastic. I like the combo of destroying your art and still getting some value to where it needs to go, like the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Looking forward to your next piece.
And the tri-hop was great.
That’s awsome! You always make me wonder what’s next. The materials are exquisite because of the way you use them, and I can’t go without the videos you put together when you create your pieces. BRAVO!
HEY! That is amazing! keep it up! Your ideas are brilliant…
I am an artist also.. and the way you put together you art blows my mind.. The way you think entices me to the point where I want to learn even more about your art.. you have a beautiful mind.. I hope my art measures up to your creations one day!!
Yeah, you’re back!
Must ‘ve had strong tape for the stencils… Looks like a fun “roadtrip” (besides the butt-hurting)!
Please keep doing that – I like your art!!
Phil you are incredible!
I’m amazed at how you come up with different ways to create your artwork. And having the patience to ride that tricycle for so long..haha i don’t think I’d be able to handle that.
lmao. OMG! The song and your actions throughout the video were hilarious!!! Especially when you let the tricycle roll on the floor and walked after it! I think your art is so amazing! I showed your website to a friend of mine from school, and he really like your work to! (Art teacher) But he had to admit, even he wouldn’t use 500ml of his , like you did for your Value Of peice. I apreciate the message you send in that peice too. Their are really only two “2d” artists that can really get me inspired. That’s you, and DaVinci. While I wouldn’t rank you up at DaVinci’s level, I definitly rank you high. You make your art waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to enjoyable to watch! (I meant that in a good way) Keep up the good work Phil!!
Dear Phil Hansen,
Apart from the renowned world classical artists, I personally think that you are absolutely one of a kind on Earth. Absolutely God Gifted. Also you sound friendly and kind too .. I wonder hmm.
I have thorougly enjoyed your work from conception and I sincerely hope that you would in time be commensurated for your contribution to human kind. I know I would and have kept you in mind and please remain as nice as you are now.
God Bless and best, Amy
You are so gifted! I love keeping up with your site and seeing your work. You surprise and inspire me over and over again. My daughters think you are amazing, and each time I show them your video clips they run off to create their own art (and I always hear at least 5 straight minutes of “He’s so cool! That is the neatest thing I’ve ever seen! He did that with his feet/bible verses/karate chops/french fries/sand/a tricycle! Is that dog really made out of pee? No!!!!! Don’t wreck it, give it to me! Aww, man, he wrecked it.) You’ve helped reawaken my own creativity and now I’m taking a sculpting class. I’ve always wanted to do it, but never made the time before now. Thanks so much for sharing your work in such a wonderful way. It stirs us all up, both young and not so young.
We love it!
Susan
I appreciate your passion.
I think this is a nice picture, but I think most of your art is incredibly wasteful when it comes to supplies. I think you need to think more about conservation. I’m sure the giant pieces of plastic that were covered in unused paint went right into the garbage. And you did that 7 times!
This is freaking amazing, along with many of your other pieces.
your a genius.
i wish there were more creative people like you in the world.
I love your work.
can’t bring myself to make things on the scale you do.
you’re amazing.
bought a poster ~~
You made art cool for young kids..my kids 12 and 8 think you are so cool. And by your example I told them they can do it too if they have fun with what they loved..
You really did make art cool again
by the way who sings that song on while your doing this? at first i didn’t like the music but it is really catchy..who sings it?
Can’t wait for my poster to arrive.
I LOVE YOU! You are awesome! Ditto to all the great comments on here!
as usual – totally lovin’ it! love the music, love the art, love the video, love the idea!
you’re simply my hero.
Phil, How you come up with these is a mystery to me. The art featured on your site is spectacular and I absolutely enjoy watching your vids of your art creation process.
I totally look forward to seeing more of this wonderful art on your site.
Cheers,
Topher
I just came across an all terrain trike with pneumatic tires (northerntool). I wonder if the textures you’d get from those knobby tires would be cool or not.
[...] Stop by his blog to see some behind the scenes pics and read more on the making of this piece. [...]
[...] One of Phil Hansen’s strongest pieces, a tricycle painted portrait of cyclist Lance Armstrong. Hansen averaged “about one color a day and ended up riding [the] tricycle for over 6 hours daily”. Read more about his dedicated process here. The journey was to end for this dizzying stenciled escapade when Hansen got out the cutters and proceeded to sell the individual pieces of the work alongside his other art posters. A portion of the proceeds was to be donated to Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation, an organisation that promotes research as well as unity and support for cancer sufferers and survivors (also the original foundation to utilize gel bands as a means of global promotion of a cause). [...]
Great post ! I want to know when you update your blog, where can i subscribe to your blog?
Phil: You more than rock, you more than soul, you certainly ain’t blues… You Hip and you Hop! (Do you Break Dance?) Ditto on the inspiration. From the piece itself to documenting it. What an effort. Thanks for doing your thing, man.
zvRYlD hi! its a nice site!
[...] It’s been awhile since I’ve been on Phil Hanson’s site and he’s added a Twitter feed (yawn) and a blog. Actually two blogs. Both have content that really enhances my appreciation of his work. For instance, last April, he deconstructed how he created a Lance Armstrong piece out of toy bicycle tire tracks through poster paint. The ’second’ personal blog called Art Happenings which seems to track his newest theme of art. The one that jumps out is called ‘octomom’, a collage of doll arms and legs to represent the woman who gave birth to octuplets recently. See the piece here and read the blog here. [...]
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