David Mann

This article is about the artist David Mann. On the politician, see David S. Mann ; for other people, see Dave Mann .

David Mann (born September 10, 1940 ; † September 11, 2004 ) (also known as "Motorcycle") was an American graphic artist, who is known for his images of motorcycles and biker culture. He made most of his works for the motorcycle industry, especially for motorcycle magazines.

He grew up in Kansas City , Missouri , where he began drawing and painting at a young age. His first passion was custom-made cars and sometimes even motorcycles, so-called “custom cars” and “custom bikes”, and so his first job was that of a car painter. After high school , he left Kansas City and settled in California , where he discovered his interest in motorcycles. He immersed himself in the biker culture and motorcycles replaced the cars in his pictures. In 1963 he brought some of his work to the Kansas City Custom Car Show. There a biker became interested in his art and, with his permission, passed it on to Ed "Big Daddy" Roth , a pop artist who was the editor of one of the first custom motorcycle magazines called Choppers at the time.

Roth loved the pictures and bought the rights to about ten of his posters. In 1971, David Mann responded to an ad in the classifieds section of a new motorcycle magazine called Easyriders looking for a "motorcycle artist." After 1972 his work appeared regularly in this magazine and laid the foundation for his work for Easyriders , which continued until his death . His pictures were distributed as a poster in the middle of the magazine ( centerfold ) from 1973 and remained the central element of the magazine until Mann had to give up his work in 2003 due to heart problems.

Mann's health slowly deteriorated in the early 2000s, forcing him to quit his job in 2003. After a long illness, Mann died in Kansas City the day after his 64th birthday. Shortly before his death, the Orange County Choppers motorcycle company started work on a memorial motorcycle for him. The work on this motorcycle was featured on an episode of the reality TV series American Chopper . The "David Mann Bike" shows stylistic elements in Mann's style, but Mann died before the motorcycle was completed. The motorcycle serves as a posthumous tribute to the graphic artist and his work was featured on the show.

Web links

• David Mann website