Rise Of The Airbrush

Overspray is the conclusive account of the rise of airbrush art, and ofthe equally bright and glossy Los Angeles culture alongside which it came to prominence in the 1970s. Inspired by surf graphics, psychedelia and the slick shine of Hollywood, a generation of young artists began to make every lip and palm tree glisten, and every record cover shine. Fueled by a combination of intense demand, sleepless nights and brutal competition, the four men at the center of L.A.’s airbrush art market–Charles E. White III, Peter Palombi, Dave Willardson and Peter Lloyd–embarked on careers encompassing work for Playboy, Levi’s, the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and major studio films including American Graffiti and Tron.

Together, their work came to define the look of illustrative graphics for a generation of viewers. This book tells the story of these four artists for the first time through hundreds of images of the artists’ best and best-known work, unseen production roughs, documentary photographs and other ephemera.

Viewed now, their surreal, funny and utterly slick imagery seems all the more fantastic–combining technical precision with wild flights of imagination that bring to mind the work of some of today’s top artists. Essay by Mike Salisbury, acclaimed designer of everything from Disney logos to Jurassic Park ad campaigns to Sassy magazine.

Conceived, edited and designed by Norman Hathaway. Official site here. [Thanks Stewf]