Archive for July 12th, 2008

Dan Langston - The Story Teller

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

Take a good look. Remember Dan Langston. How can one forget the in-your-face graphics that he creates from his shop in American Fork, Utah? Answer… you can’t. This amazing creative talent will be around for a while. We have no doubt that you’ll be seeing a lot more of him and his beautiful airbrush work from here on out. After all, his ultra-unique airbrushed storytelling artwork is hard to ignore - and even harder to forget. We first discovered Dan’s art on a Harley-Davidson Street Glide we spied behind the Colorado Belle in Laughlin, NV at the 2008 Laughlin River Run. We were immediately taken with the details of his craft and loved his uniquely original approach to laying paint to metal.

Dan Langston tells us he has loved drawing for as long as he can remember. When he was 15, he went to an amusement park and stumbled upon an airbrush artist spraying beautiful artwork on T-shirts and license plates using a chrome “smokin’ pipe” as his brush! Fascinated, he asked question after question until the painter he asked him to leave. At that point Dan decided he needed an airbrush, so he figured the next logical step… (you guessed it) Santa.

Ever since that fateful Christmas Dan discovered it’s impossible to smoke from it, but it can make beautiful things. He couldn’t get enough of that airbrush. The story goes that friends could always find him huddled in the third bay of his parents garage attempting to create… well, anything and everything.

Through the years he drooled over the works of Craig Fraser, Terry Hill, Dru Blair and HR Giger. Later, Dan went to school for business and art, working job after job and painting whenever he could find time. Initially, he used Createx paints mainly due to cost and his lack of knowledge for the automotive paints. After working too long at a bronze casting hell-hole he decided he’d had enough, drove to his apartment and gathered everything he had painted. He later went to a body shop where he heard the owner had a custom painted Harley. Wanting to learn, he pleaded that he needed to learn the trade and would work for free if needed. It worked. He landed an amazingly sweet gig as the prep-boy and went from 14 bucks an hour to $7.25, but soaked up a plethora of knowledge in the process - mastering everything from sandpaper to polish. Working during the mornings and afternoons, then off to school until eight, and then back to the dark shop to practice ’til the wee hours. Before long, the boss let him throw some artwork on his new bike and word got around. In his moment of ‘awakening’ Dan says “I couldn’t get enough of learning, and trying and creating. Best thing about it was that people were paying me!”

“I had so much work lined up I had to go full-time on my own. I’ve had the business for about five years now. We’ve never had a lack of work, (knock on wood). It gets frustrating at times to meet deadlines instead of let new creativity flow. But I enjoy the projects where the client appreciates the art and allows me some artistic freedom. Mainly painting bikes, I originally had a hard time with the expectation of having that ‘biker’ edge with everything I painted. Many riders have a hard time committing to artwork that may not be “acceptable” to their friends if they haven’t seen it in a magazine. I since then found enjoyment in taking that need for skulls, crossbones and death (which always seems like a bad omen to me on a bike) and taking it to a deeper level of shock and possible disgust. I enjoy creating art that stirs up some emotion, rather than a stenciled skull or design. These skulls and designs can be gorgeous, and make up a lot of my business.”

“My real love however, is digging deeper, creating depth, and life (or death in some cases) I enjoy painting facial features, eyes especially. I’ve always had a fear of drowning, always. When I was told to “just make it crazy” on a springer some three years ago… I came up with the drowning-underwater theme. While painting it, I had a kind of sick feeling and knew I was on to something! I’ve done a few versions now of the drowning theme. The latest one (that was posted here from Laughlin 2008, was a “sink or swim” theme. The owner is a business tycoon and great guy. He struggled throughout his life and failed miserably and enjoyed great success. His bike, while weird and maybe gross at first glance, tells a personal story of him. It is riddled with meaningful Celtic symbols representing his life. His own face is on the left side of the tank. Pounding to escape the entrapment. He’s holding a locket of his wife who has been his strength. Me (Dan) and my brother (Dave) are on there. Anyway, as with many of my bikes, you could look for hours and hours and still find more and more hidden treasures telling a personal story of the owner. There have been occasion where the client has been less that courteous to me, I feel that situations like that must have consequence and if one looked hard enough, one may find a certain part of a male smiling back at you in a secret description of the owner. Almost every piece has some hidden objects. Clients know it, and it’s been kind of a fun gimmick to continue.”

“I use whatever I can get my hands on for products. Sherwin Williams U7000 for sealers and toners. I use the beautiful array of color from HOK at times and PPG global clears. I only use Iwata airbrushes. I mainly use the Eclipse. Then it’s Sata and Iwata guns for base and clear. We do everything in house from body repair, flush lights, body mods, up to the long, but needed process of full sand and polish.”

Check out the cool Frazetta inspired bike below.

“I love what I do. I’m grateful everyday for the opportunity to pay my bills while doing something I’d be doing as a hobby anyway! I’m trying to expand past simply the motorcycle world. I’m finishing a project now that is the wildest I’ve ever done. It’s on a custom build, and might be the still representation of Jackson Pollack meeting Stephen King, Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino and making another Grindhouse movie. I’m amazed at all the talented artists out there. I love seeing all the talent and different styles, it’s so inspiring. I always try to find time to try new things, to learn more and more about this endless industry.”

The photos below with all the ladies is a recently finished project for an out-of-state client;

“The client wanted it to be black widow themed…

…but the black widow was a woman (or any woman) who killed men during or with sex.”

“On the rear of the bike I had her pile of dead victims. Weird, but the webbing and the flowing two tone design tied it all together nicely.” We agree.