Hot Rod art at it's finest brought to you by J. Tingler. Monsters, fiends and lowlifes brought to you by J. Tingler. God he's good.
What the hell kind of name is Tingler?
It's my real name dammit. Seriously, I ain't joking. I think its German or something. I think in the "old world" it was spelled Dingler. I'm glad it got "Americanized" to Tingler. I might have been made fun of otherwise.
When were you bitten by the hot rod bug?
When I was a kid. I thought everyone should have hot rods. I never could understand why my folks wouldn't customize and hot rod their cars. I still sort of can't understand that.
Was school cool? Art school that is.
Art school messed me up. I went through most of it waiting for them to teach me something. It was one long drawn out critique that pretty much went nowhere. In case you can't tell, I have a real bad attitude about fine art in the University system. I feel it's just a system that churns out more art professors. I mean, I got to the end and literally one professor of mine said, "congratulations, you're now unemployed". It's kind of expected that you will become an adjunct professor and start kissing butt so you can teach. You bust you're rear as a student to become an adjunct professor so you can bust your rear to get tenure and be a real professor so you can bust your rear to produce students who will become adjunct professors etc etc. It's kind of an incestuous sort of system with professors making professors and nobody living outside the university system. When I realized that, I sort of lost it and burned out. I mean up to the point where I graduated I was a star pupil. I excelled even. I made all sorts of cool kinetic sculptures and was always making the grade. I was a sculpture student, by the way. I have an MFA and a BFA in sculpture. I was heavily into metal sculpture back then. I'd build stuff that would move. By the end all my stuff was getting real "Roth" like. I was making stuff like kitchen stoves that had big chomping teeth and big arms holding forks and stuff. Think of a Roth monster mixed with an actual real life kitchen stove. That was the stuff I was into.
Anyhow, I lost my train of thought for a second. ha ha.
I burned out after graduation and totally turned into a bum. I didn't apply for any teaching jobs or anything. I kind of let down all my old professors I think.
I started my own business. I figured that would be a good way to break the cycle and actually live life instead of living the "university life". I bought the Fairlane and holed up here in Tennessee and started airbrushing T-shirts at car shows. I figured I'd do it like my heroes Roth and all the other car culture greats.
Why did you move to Tennessee?
My wife got a job here while I was finishing up my degree in college. We moved here because of that. It was actually a blessing as I absolutely love Tennessee. I'm from the country and I get kind of nervous if I'm not around hills and mountains and stuff. Tennessee has a nice car scene going on. I'm about 1 ½ hours from Pigeon Forge. That's where Dollywood is incase you didn't know. They always have some big giant car gathering going on down there.
Tell me about your Fairlane and how it relates to your art.
Well, I got the Fairlane when I was losing my mind at the end of art school. I knew back then that I was going to dive into this hot rod world and the Fairlane kind of just showed up around that time. I bought it for $800 and drove it like I stole it. Like my career, it's an ever changing, ever evolving entity. I plan on keeping it for a long time. So far I've owned it for something like 7 or 8 years. In the last couple of years it has started to take on the form of one of the cars in my monster paintings. All those old monster shirts always had the car looking like some street freak gasser thing. The Fairlane is slowly becoming that. It doesn't really affect my art other than taking all my money.
What does Roth mean to you?
Unfortunately I never met him, so he's kind of this mythical legendary presence. The monsters spoke to me as a kid and of course they're still with me. I'm in awe of Roth's energy. You can tell he was just this outgoing, larger than life kinda guy. I'd like to be that way. I'm not though. I'm kind of a mix between R. Crumb and Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Is the airbrush your weapon of choice?
I got my first airbrush in high school and tucked it away when I went to college. I was into monster art and skate board art back in high school and when I went to college, that stuff was looked down upon. I've always used a lot of different tools though. Airbrushing is just a part of my arsenal. I draw, paint and sculpt. My art isn't really attached to a certain technique or medium. Everything I do is a symptom of a warped personality. Seriously, to keep me from breaking stuff when I was a kid, my ma made me set down and draw. So, the airbrush, yeah, it's a way to make T-shirts man! That's about it for me. I really love the thought of a nomadic t-shirt artist wandering from place to place slinging paint. I did that for a little while and it was fun for sure but it kinda went nowhere. I mean, I started seeing myself 30 years from now still painting shirts at a carnival. That kinda freaked me out a little, so I moved away from that. I've got my airbrushes set up in my studio right now and I use them all the time. I used them today actually. I've got a steady stream of monster shirts coming out of my studio. I think I'll be into that for a long time to come. It's just a part of me.
Why can't you just draw landscapes and puppies like everyone else?
I do man! Actually I've done quite a few 8" X 10" paintings of things like pigs and roosters and fish. They always look like their on dope though. I don't know, everything that comes out of me has this kind of weird aggression. I try too. I try real hard to make things that are smiling. I'm going to try even harder in the future. I've been smiling more since my daughter was born. That kid is a ball of smiles and happiness. I'm appreciating the little fuzzy things more. KITTIES RULE!
When you start a new piece what is your goal?
I sort of explore with every new piece. I've never really been a big fan of sketching first or anything. I always just start in and let things happen. Like with a monster painting I never know what it's going to look like until I'm finished. I'm really getting a kick out of painting these little tiki and monster paintings right now. I'll do a couple at a time. Like I'll have 4 or 5 going on at once and I'll just keep adding a details and stuff to each one as I go along. I would say that my goal is to make something that looks cool. You'd be surprised by how much art LOOKS boring. I try and not do that.
Besides hot rods, what else are you inspired by?
Lots of things inspire me.
Hot rods inspire me because of what they mean. I feel that hot rods are really a wonderful expression of humanity. They are how cars are supposed to be. These throw away econo cars that we are supposed to scrap every 3 years are not what life is about. I mean, I dig hot rods for their power and flash and all that jazz, but what really gets me about them is the fact that without the human touch they would not exist. I like things that are personalized and I don't mean things that have a few stickers on them. I mean personalized like grandad's tools are personalized from years of use. Years of being touched by human hands. True hot rods are one of a kind. Worn in a bit. They been around. Like my '63. It's got crap for history, but its got almost a decade of history with me. That car is taking on a soul. It's really nice to be able to go into the garage and touch the fender or the door. It's only a car or a piece of machinery until a person puts a soul into it. I'm not so inspired by restorations or smoothy mobiles and stuff like that. Stuff that is powered by money and greed kinda turn me off. Even "period correct" cars don't do a lot for me unless they are loved. Think about Burt Munro's bike. That's the type of thing that turns me on.
I also dig well made knives. I'm into them for the same reasons. It's all about tradition and history and these items that are just well made. A nice knife will age in a really cool way.
To analyze it I'd have to say that I'm really drawn to security and longevity. I like things that last and things that can be passed down from generation to generation. I absolutely hate stuff that is made to be thrown away.
I dig iron skillets. They last forever. I hate those non stick coated skillets. Yes, my iron skillet inspires me.
Do you consider yourself lowbrow?
Yeah I guess. I'm not too sure about how the whole "lowbrow" thing is playing out in the art world. If you define lowbrow as art appealing to "regular" people, then yes, my art is all about that. My art is about cartoons and monsters and violence and mania and all sorts of funky stuff. I like art that is fun to look at. It's about as simple as that. Like I'd rather look at skate deck art than abstract stuff. I've always been that way. However, I absolutely love pop art and it is certainly considered fine art or highbrow art. Andy Warhol rules. There is a lot of fine art that is fun to look at. So am I "lowbrow"? I guess, but I don't lose sleep over wondering about it.
Are you lost in the 50's? Or do you believe what Robert Williams said that the only good thing about the 50's was that the cars were cheap.
Seriously, I dig right now. I don't dress like a 50's greaser or anything. I don't even think it was a better time. I think the mid 60's were probably better, but I wouldn't know. I was born in the 70's after the world had already ended.
Do you consider yourself successful? And if not what does success mean to you?
I'm not as successful as I want to be. Mostly I measure success on how good my art is. I'm way far away from making my best piece. I just simply haven't gotten there yet. Success is always out of reach. It's like speed. You can never go fast enough.
What does the HAMB mean to you?
I found the HAMB when I started getting serious about learning how to build a car. The HAMB has taught me so much. I guess it's my home on the net. The HAMB opened up the hot rod world for me. I didn't know anyone on the inside until I signed up on the HAMB. That's a fact. I was a "car guy" before that, but I hadn't actually gotten on the inside of the hot rod world.
Worst thing you ever saw done to a car?
I saw some old cars get crushed. That's about the worst thing I can think of. Once it's crushed, it's gone.
Where is Tingler headed?
Tingler is headed toward making more art. I want to make more art and sell a bunch of it so I can get super rich and buy some gold bracelets and stuff.
www.tinglerart.com
