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Gilder/Pinstriper Jim “Dauber” Farr Provides “Mano” technology

Beautiful examples of the goldleaf craft

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When Jim Farr – “Dauber” – called and said he was applying goldleaf to a 1929 International firetruck, one that sat in his studio/garage as we spoke, I said we’d be there the next day. Like, who doesn’t want to see an old firetruck – and what sign aficionado doesn’t dig goldleaf?

In certain circumstances, the motorhead in me battles with my designer sphere. For example, upon seeing the firetruck, I became equally fascinated by its clever four-banger flathead (that’s fueled by an up-draft carburetor) and Dauber’s intricate, goldleaf work. It’s like being caught between two magnetic fields. I go through the same thing at hotrod shows – do I first examine a roadster’s unique, double-wishbone front suspension or its mesmerizing, metal-flake flames? It’s no contest if I see a Jag IRS, rigged with inboard brakes, tucked under a hotrod’s backside.

Dauber, a Cincinnatian who says he’s a freelance artist, offers a lot more than routine art. He’s also a technical illustrator, landscape artist, pinstriper – surely among the best in the nation – sign artist and goldleaf artist, i.e., a gilder, but he doesn’t enjoy that catchphrase. “Gilder” he says, “is a questionable term.”

My iPhone’s Webster’s dictionary says it means to overlay something in gold, and we all know there’s significantly more involved in gilded sign art.
ST covered Dauber’s motorcycle-art exhibit at the Cincinnati’s Contemporary Art Center (see ST, May 2011, page 14). There, he exhibited a dozen, custom-painted motorcycles that featured his designed paint layouts, pinstriping and illustrations. The extraordinary site showcased a dozen exquisitely decorated cruiser bikes displayed in the avant-garde chambers of Cincinnati’s modern-art museum.

Further, he’s decorated hundreds of racecars, hotrods and custom vehicles and fashioned antique restorations, such as the International firetruck. His work has been featured in ST, Hotrod, Drag Racing and Airbrush Action magazines. More notable, perhaps, the National Hotrod Assn. inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2006.

A true purist, Dauber refuses to use computer technology; thus, all his art is hand work – mano technology.
 

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