On The Spot: Bikesutra interviews Taliah Lempert

Taliah Lempert loves to paint bicycles. Her paintings show that she views bicycles from a different perspective to what most others see them as...merely a form of transportation. But for Taliah, they are a part of her life, they are her inspiration and her love.

BIKEsutra: What did you use to paint before embarking on the bicycles as your
subject?
Taliah: I started painting 18 years ago so I've had plenty of time to paint lots of different things. I like to paint what's around me. I painted many pictures of people. Just before painting bikes I did small pictures that were close-ups of feet and legs

BIKEsutra: What made you really get into painting bicycles?
Taliah: I've never owned a car. When I started to bike in the city it was the first time I had my own source of transportation. I'd been using a bike to get around for about a year before I started painting them. My bike was with me everywhere, without it I felt grounded. I was either going for a bike ride or riding my bike somewhere. Bicycles had become such an important part of my life that I started to paint them. I didn't know that it would become such a large body of work.

BIKEsutra: How much effect would you say that the theft of your beloved bicycle
Inspired you to do what you do?
Taliah: When I got mugged for my bike I had already been painting, showing and selling paintings of bicycles for a few years. The event didn't inspire me to start, although it did affect the mood of a few paintings.

The effort I made to get my bike back was inspiring. I had just gotten my first computer and was learning how to use it. The day I was mugged I made a poster on the computer and posted it everywhere. I carried the flyers with me, putting them everywhere. 3 weeks later someone found the bike. Getting my bike back inspired me to apply that kind of effort in promoting my artwork. It was also a lesson in the usefulness of computers.

BIKEsutra: You have also entered several competitions in your area. How do you
train for those?
Taliah: 2002 was my third full season of track racing at Kissena Velodrome, Queens. During the cold part of they year I do road rides with my friends and rollers or nothing when the weather is super crappy. During the winter I go to Indigo studios in Park Slope Brooklyn and take spinning classes with Kirk Whiteman. I think that helped me keep in shape last winter

When it gets warmer out we have practice twice a week at the track, I go there to train with the other riders and our coach Charlie Jennings I try to get in a good road ride each week. My teammate Wendy Cohen is one of my favorite riding partners.

BIKEsutra: Any similarities between competitive racing and painting?
Taliah: Yes! Some days go really well and then some days it's a major struggle and seems impossible to the right results.

I think that there is a similar focus. When racing I come up with rapid-fire ideas for strategy and apply them immediately and with conviction. As the situation evolves I change my strategy to fit. Painting is like that too.

BIKEsutra: We heard that your boyfriend is also into bikes. Could you tell us more about him?
Taliah: I met Dave when I wandered into his bike shop looking for parts. I'm amazed now how he can spend his whole day working on bikes and then come home and look at my pictures.

He has a bike shop that is about 10 minutes from the house. He's very involved with all different aspects of bike culture. He wrote a huge amazing book called Bikecult. Dave puts a lot of energy into his website www.bikecult.com its about the shop, bikes and NYC bike culture.

BIKEsutra: How has he been inspirational in your paintings?
Taliah: Dave had been inspirational by believing in my pictures, critiquing them and giving me access to a treasure trove of bikes!

BIKEsutra: How does the inspiration to paint bicycles come to you? Do you just wake up one day and think ok, I am going to paint this bike next?
Taliah: Yes. When I look at a bike it catches my eye a certain way, I get an idea of how I want to paint it.

I get a new idea as I come to the end of the painting I'm working on. When I'm thinking more about the next picture and less about what I'm working on, it's time to start a new piece.

BIKEsutra: Do you entertain request by owners to paint their bikes?
Taliah: Absolutely, I love painting commissions. When people have a painting done they are excited about it and I like being involved with that. It's fun to have these special bikes in my studio, to look at them and know that they are very important to someone.

I don't paint from photos, I pose the bike in my studio. Some people come to the studio to drop off the model. Some have their bike boxed and shipped. My boyfriend unpacks and assembles bikes for me and packs and ships them when the painting is done. This discourages some people from having pictures made but the process makes it more significant for those that do. I price my commissions the same as existing paintings because I appreciate the effort. When I'm working on a commission the patron can follow the progress of their painting on my studio page, where I post a picture of the painting each day. I like the interaction that my commissions involve.

BIKEsutra: Will you ever paint a person together with a bike in your painting?
Taliah: I don't like to say never but it's not my interest It takes me a long time to make a painting, I work at all hours, technically I'd have to have someone hold still for a long time. The bikes that I paint are still. If there were a person in the picture they would just be sitting around. I don't think that would be interesting.

BIKEsutra: Tell us something about Taliah Lambert that we don't already know.
Taliah: I love to play skee ball!

BIKEsutra: What do you like best about living in New York? Does living there affect your paintings in any way?
Taliah: I love living in New York City. I am sure it's affected my artwork in more ways than I'm even aware of. My friends and my life are here. The bikes I paint are specifically NYC bikes, a few have come here to pose, and most are bikes that are ridden here. Bikes used for commuting, messengering, racing, and styling around NYC.

There are lots of galleries and museums here. I go to shows regularly and
think about the art I see. It's important to see other artists. Many
people come for studio visits when they are visiting New York.

BIKEsutra: Describe yourself in 5 words?
Taliah: There are words I use to motivate and direct myself in painting and in competition. I learned they were on the wall at my favorite painter, Lucian Freud's, studio. I have written them on the wall of each studio I've had. They are four words.

Urgent. Subtle. Concise. Robust.

BIKEsutra: How has the web worked for you in terms of selling and publicizing your
paintings?
Taliah: I did a lot to promote my work before bicyclepaintings.com. I'd get postcards printed in batches of 500 and send them to anyone who might be interested in my work. If people responded I'd send them a pack of 20 color reproductions. I got a few good responses. One woman from California bought a piece and tried to arrange a show through her bike club. They had a meeting to look at my color copies. She let me know that a few people in her club were annoyed they had to get together to see them. They wondered why they weren't on the web. I got this kind of reaction enough to realize that I needed a website.

I was lucky to have my friend Amanda Hickman's help. She does beautiful web design. Amanda created a basic site and developed a template I could cut and paste. She taught me HTML essentials, saved me in emergencies and suggested I purchase an HTML book so I could take care of the site myself.

It's been three years since the site launched. For the last two and a half years I have been making a living from the sale of my artwork. It is amazing to be able to promote my work directly to individuals. The web makes this possible.

I do a lot to promote the site and my artwork. I get postcards printed in batches of 5,000. I send them out and leave stacks of them in bike shops. I sponsor Kissena, the racing club I belong to. It's cool to have Bicyclepaintings.com on the jersey.

The website is a great tool for selling and publicizing, more than that it is a dialog. I update the site almost daily. I either edit the existing site or put up new pages. I love the immediacy. It's amazing that the changes I make can be seen all over the world, the next second.

The most active part of the site is the studio section. I post pictures of my work every day, that I paint, so the piece can be seen in progress. People return to my site to see what I'm working on, it keeps me involved and the site active. Some people that visit the site contact me through e-mail, It is motivating to have an audience

BIKEsutra: What is your most expensive painting offered in the market so far?
Taliah: My prices start with etchings at $250. drawings are priced at $300. Paintings range from $600. to the largest pieces at $3,000.

My prices are low because I deal my own artwork. Currently, I'm not working through a gallery or dealer. It's a privilege to work directly with the people that collect my art.

BIKEsutra: What was the fastest seller?
Taliah: A few times I've sold the piece I was working on from the studio page on my site!

Selling work is essential to make a living from it. It's a funny thing though, because if I get worried about selling it becomes very hard to paint. I try to think about painting when I'm painting, and hope for the best when it comes to selling. It's interesting that some people like certain pieces and others get excited about completely different ones. That's probably the best reason to concentrate on the painting. I can't tell what will sell. I've had pieces sit around for a year and then sell. I've had some that I really like that no one expresses interest in I try not to pressure myself about it. I'm thrilled that people like my work and support it.