Harrod Blank Biography
When Harrod Blank first realized  that
his '65 VW Beetle could be treated as a canvas, the result was “Oh
My God!”. Painted like a beach ball with a bumper of plastic
fruit & rubber chickens, a chalkboard on back and a TV on the roof,
the car was the catalyst for his remarkable career.
Initially, Blank thought he was the only one in the world with an Art
Car, and at times felt quite alienated. This would change, as he
gradually learned from supporters that there were other such cars, spread
out across the country. Drawing from what he had learned from his father,
filmmaker Les Blank, and the BA in Theater Arts/Film he  earned
at UC Santa Cruz in 1986, Blank began photographing other Art Cars. Subsequently,
he raised money through private investors and took out loans as needed to finance
the 64-minute documentary he dreamed of making: Wild
Wheels.
To his credit, over 55 million people worldwide have now seen the film. Blank
initially distributed Wild
Wheels,
featuring 46 Art Cars and their respective artists, by drivin “Oh
My God!” with the film to 50 cities across the country. Publicity from
the tour gained the interest of PBS, which broadcast the film repeatedly as a
National Special in 1993. The following year, Blank's photography was featured
in a companion book, Wild
Wheels (Pomegranate, 1994; Blank Books, 2001), which was named “Best
Book for Young Adults” by the American Library Association.
Blending his passion for Art Cars and his love of photography, Blank was inspired
by a dream to attach 1,705 cameras to a 1972 Dodge van. Cleverly hiding
ten working cameras among the rest,  Blank
had finally found a way to capture on film the public’s candid expressions
of awe and delight. In 1995, Blank drove the “Camera
Van” to
New York City for its official “debut” and shot over 5,000 photographs
for a photography exhibit, “I’ve Got A Vision.”
In 1995, still enthusiastic about the beauty and power of Art Cars, Blank began
production of a feature-length sequel to Wild Wheels. A
short version of the film (Driving
the Dream, 29 mins.) was broadcast on TBS's National Geographic
Explorer in October 1997 to help raise money for the epic film Automorphosis, which
was completed in fall of 2008 and had
its world premiere Jan 23, 2009 in Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Blank made his third Art Car in 1998, an interactive mariachi-themed music mobile
called “Pico De Gallo” later unveiled in his new
book, Art Cars:
the Cars, the Artists, the Obsession, the Craft (Lark Books 2002, Blank Books
2007). Gene
Shalet heralded the book on the Today Show as his favorite holiday gift suggestion. The
Petersen Automotive Museum hosted a major exhibition of Art Cars in Spring 2003,
of which Harrod Blank was Guest Curator.
Currently Blank is touring for "Automorphosis" with
the Camera Van and 5 other art cars in an effort to get distribution. In
addition he is in production on "Burning Man: The Movie," 15
years in the making.
Blank’s mother Gail Perrin Blank, an erotic ceramist, died in February
2005, which prompted a major career change. In August of 2005, Blank embarked
upon the making of a visionary center for the arts in Douglas Arizona on the
border of Mexico called Rancho Del Arte.  This
bilingual center will feature arts above ground and below and will include ArtCarWorld,
a museum dedicated to Art Cars, the Ceramic Cafe integrated with ceramic arts
and mosaics, Highway Cinema, an outdoor theater specializing in independent
Mexican and American films, and an underground system of caves featuring shrines
to the dead. In addition, there will be 5 artist
residencies on the 2nd floor, 2 film editing/production suites in the outbuilding,
El Gallero tiki bar in the center of the courtyard, and a gallery/museum gift
shop on the street level.
Not only will the center be a place
for art to be created and veiwed, but it will be a work of art in
itself. The gallery
space will be opening in theSpring, 2011, the residencies in the Spring
of 2013 and the other elements by the end of 2015.
For
more information on Harrod Blank, go to: www.harrodblank.com
Excentrix@aol.com
450 E. 8th St. Douglas AZ 85607
Phone/Fax: 520-805-1850
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