What can you do with a broken bicycle or its parts?
I’m asking because I really never learned how to ride a bike. Ever. But I did once destroy one. True confession: when my dad decided to “teach me” to ride a bike, I was a chubby five-year-old who longed for a pretty red bicycle with glittering training wheels, a shiny silver horn, and those bitchin’ metallic streamers trailing from each handle bar. That was my dream, and I kept sharing it with my parents until one day my father, after a day of cocktails, propped me up on my older brother’s big, dented blue Schwinn, mumbled something about “training wheels are for fairies,” and, from the top of a really steep gravel driveway, pushed the bike as hard as he could with me on top. He screamed something like, “PEDAL, DAMMIT!” and turned and walked back into the house as I hurtled down the driveway before tilting and rapidly upending onto the gravel, resulting in my first near-death experience. True story: Five year olds don’t bounce…on gravel, anyway. And as I lay there like a discarded Ragged Andy, I looked up at the overly chipper blue sky and thought, “Why God? Why?” My oldest brother, playing God’s spokesperson, looked down on my scraped and bleeding visage and said, “He’ll never buy you training wheels, man. You should just give up now.” And so I did.
As I grew older, I made excuses to all my friends about why I couldn’t bike with them. My favorite lie was that I had witnessed a major drug deal while riding a bike as a toddler and was consequently placed in a witness protection program of sorts for small children. The conditions of my protection, of course, dictated that I was never allowed to ever ride a bike again, ever. But every time I saw one of my friends riding, I envied the Hell out of their ability to glide on two wheels. Damn you, Daddy!
I know it seems like I’m off on a needless tangent again, but fortunately there are those who (apparently) had more stable parents who taught them to love bike riding and all things cyclical. Beginning at 6:00 p.m. this Friday, August 16, the Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign is sponsoring a way-cool art exhibit at the Indi Go Artist Co-op entitled Tandem. This is a fundraising exhibit of over thirty artists that, among other things, answers my initial question. And what can be done with bike parts is truly worthy of your attention. In various media, the glory of the bicycle is celebrated, resulting in such brainmelting works as: a table made of gears and a seat rest, a graphic of a decomposed cat’s skeleton cycling to the afterlife, a heat-sensitive needlepoint of a traffic light that really works, wood block prints of biking through an idyllic countryside, and some really amazing graphics and poster prints.
I briefly spoke with the Tandem organizers, Joel Gillespie and Molly Poganski, about this event. This is the second year for Tandem, which was previously exhibited at Café’ Kopi. The event shows “where Art and Bicycles intersect,” according to Gillespie, and is modeled after Art Crank, an exhibit which appears in Chicago, London, and Paris and celebrates this unlikely intersection. Gillespie and Poganski became pumped about bringing such an event to the CU area, and after consulting with their local sponsors, Maya Bruck and CUDO (the Champaign-Urbana Design Organization), they decided to create an event to benefit both area artists and the Bike Project Bike Co-op, a non-profit organization that offers refurbished abandoned and donated bikes to area youth, and also provides a space for bike repair and volunteer instruction and assistance. Profits from each Tandem piece sold will be divided between the artist and this organization; prices range from $20 for prints, and $20 to $100 for original works. The event will accept both cash and credit card payments for purchases.
The opening night reception at Indi Go Gallery will be a snazzy art gallery opening with bike-themed home-brews and snacks, accompanied by a pulsing, bicycle-themed musical soundtrack, courtesy of area DJ Tim Halen. The first evening’s festivities run from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and should be loads of fun! The show will continue most evenings from 7:00-9:00 p.m. through August 28. The artwork I saw was both unique and provocative, with a nice balance of whimsy and function. The event promises to be one helluva party, and the sales go for a worthwhile cause in our community, so get up off your asses and go people! You can even bike to and from the event and get some exercise on a balmy August evening.