The “Go Loopy” Art Bus Project – Summer 2011

Ryan Bentzinger , & Charlie Pollmiller ( the 2 fellas pictured below) came with me to paint this bus. Ryan painted the castle in the sky and Charlie painted the “Go Loopy” on the front and back.

I painted Chief Blackhawk, the native dweller of the place I call my home town – The Quad Cities (Iowa, Illinois – mainly Davenport/Rock Island). Of course, he didn’t call it that. I paint him to honor him and his sacrifice for the life of his people, a sacrifice that the new native dwellers of today recognize as honorable and heroic. It’s notable that we honor a man who our decedents tried to kill, a man who would consider me an enemy. Perhaps we are just more compassionate towards others who struggle as we do, and more.

To the right of Blackhawk I painted a rural Iowa farmstead and sky. Winding around the front of the bus a white picket (vent) fence sections off a new suburban development; billboard in the sky. Where every house is the exact design and color as the next. Every blade of grass the same length (according to code), every vehicle a minivan (never not a JD Power and associate award winner) and all of it a reflection of society.

Walking down the bus away from the suburbs we go downtown, cross a bridge. Weaving through the rolling Midwest hills overlooking the city lights, a farmer in silhouette dances in the constellations under the moon playing an old love song. Hitching a ride on a circus train down the line and get off at the stop when jazzy tunes awaken your senses beneath a colorful Geisha Tree. Wander on.

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