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That Bike is Pimped!
In order to more accurately reflect the values of German youth, MTV Germany altered the hit TV show Pimp My Car to Pimp My Bike. Toronto’s own Corwyn Lund has pimped a bike so hard, he’s gonna head up bike pimping operations for MTV World. Well, maybe one day he will. But for now, he is delivering missives and enunciations to the citizens of Toronto with this luminous bike – but only on Mondays.
Artist Corwyn Lund spent 4 months fashioning the scarlet-hued cycle as a sculptural piece for the group show currently mounted at the Harbourfront Centre. The concept for the piece, titled “Prototype For a Stolen Bike,” came about after Lund decided to replicate in his own way a painting technique employed by common thieves.
Bikes crudely spray-painted all one colour to prevent them from being recognized by their rightful owners are a classic indication of stolen property. Lund noticed that bikes painted thief-style take on the look of a tidy minimalist sculpture. So he decided to make his own, but make it as refined and beautiful as possible. The bike was tinted red though a chemical process called anodizing which involves dipping the metal parts into a vat of chemicals. The rest of the red parts were gathered bit by bit from cycling suppliers around the world.
The bike is being used to courier postcards with personal hand scribbled greetings to people whose addresses are within the border of St. Clair & Queen’s Quay and Roncevalles & Carlaw. The cards – that depict a man casually riding his bike into a Dutch canal – are being dispatched every Monday until they have all been delivered.
If you would like to send a card to someone and have it delivered by Corwyn Lund’s fleeting “prototype for a stolen bike,” go by the York Quay Gallery and jot one down. Love letters get delivered first.
Hey MTV, we need a Pimp My Bike Toronto!