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Vans: A Book of Rolling Rooms
94 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 19, 2009
F'n brilliant!
January 8, 2020
You know those shirts with the overwrought acrylic artwork, usually depicting American Indians or wolves (sometimes baying at the moon in profile)? On the one hand they're kind of silly, but on the other hand even those who pretend to better taste may find something secretly appealing, even enrapturing, about them. As with Thomas Kinkade's sort of glow-in-the-dark pastorals, sometimes too sweet is just saccharine enough.
Looking at the vans in this book evokes that same sort of feeling. The exteriors of these trucks evoke a giddy kind of nostalgia, the things like candy-painted tableaux of soaring UFOs that recall the Atari golden age, or the heavy primer day-glo, hyper-misogynist women splayed out, riding dragons with mountains of teased hair. It's ugly and beautiful simultaneously. Irony and invoking kitsch like the Fifth Amendment can only stave off acceptance for so long. Resistance is futile and all who behold these vans will find themselves ceding posterior, marijuana, or petroleum willingly.
And those are just the exteriors of the vans.
The insides of the vans are just as glorious, if not even more so. The designs range from crimson button-tuck interiors that resemble vampire sleeping chambers lifted direct from Hammer Horror movies to alcoves upholstered with white fur that look like love dens for horny yetis. Other eyegasm-inducing designs include cheetah print so loud even pimps would have to squint, to shag that answers a question I've long had, which is "What would it look like if a lava lamp could vomit onto the Garcia Collection's most psychedelic tie design?"
Miniature essays bookend the proceedings. The first one deals with van culture's ins and outs, and granular details like the debate over whether or not VWs have a right to convoy alongside mighty Econolines; the second essay deals mainly with the nuts and bolts of making the vessels seaworthy, the outlays and expense in terms of hard cash and sweat equity. Naturally, it's money well spent if any unwanted interlopers do try to come a knockin' when the van is indeed rocking. Highest recommendation.
Looking at the vans in this book evokes that same sort of feeling. The exteriors of these trucks evoke a giddy kind of nostalgia, the things like candy-painted tableaux of soaring UFOs that recall the Atari golden age, or the heavy primer day-glo, hyper-misogynist women splayed out, riding dragons with mountains of teased hair. It's ugly and beautiful simultaneously. Irony and invoking kitsch like the Fifth Amendment can only stave off acceptance for so long. Resistance is futile and all who behold these vans will find themselves ceding posterior, marijuana, or petroleum willingly.
And those are just the exteriors of the vans.
The insides of the vans are just as glorious, if not even more so. The designs range from crimson button-tuck interiors that resemble vampire sleeping chambers lifted direct from Hammer Horror movies to alcoves upholstered with white fur that look like love dens for horny yetis. Other eyegasm-inducing designs include cheetah print so loud even pimps would have to squint, to shag that answers a question I've long had, which is "What would it look like if a lava lamp could vomit onto the Garcia Collection's most psychedelic tie design?"
Miniature essays bookend the proceedings. The first one deals with van culture's ins and outs, and granular details like the debate over whether or not VWs have a right to convoy alongside mighty Econolines; the second essay deals mainly with the nuts and bolts of making the vessels seaworthy, the outlays and expense in terms of hard cash and sweat equity. Naturally, it's money well spent if any unwanted interlopers do try to come a knockin' when the van is indeed rocking. Highest recommendation.
February 22, 2012
The ultimate guide for "Doing it Right"
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews