Newspaper Page Text
American
Artisan
Sam Bass stops at a traffic light in Concord, N.C.,
grabs his pen and drawing pad and furiously sketches an
idea that just popped into his head.
"You never know where you'll be when an idea hits you,’’ says
Bass, 45, a painter and designer w’ho’s renowned for his auto rac
ing art. “1 use hotel notepads, napkins or whatever is handy.”
L The sketch Bass begins at the stoplight may eventu-
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Painting
NASCAR
by HEATHER LARSON
ally turn into a paint scheme for a racecar, uniform,
helmet, trading cards, w-atercolor painting or some other
form of NASCAR-reiated art. At his Sam Bass Gallery
in Concord, many of his preliminary’ sketches are framed
alongside the finished piece so visitors can see the evolution
of his work.
Bass gained notoriety in 1997 when he became
the first artist officially licensed by NASCAR,
. allowing him to legally use the NASCAR
A logo on his artwork. Today. NASCAR and
A dozens of corporations, such as DuPont and
Bass puts the finishing touches on a work of art at his gallery in Concord, N.C.
Coca-Cola, hire Bass when they need art related to the sport. In fact, he’s
become so synonymous with the sport that movie producers for last year's
NASCAR comedy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby , hired him
to design the paint schemes for the film’s cars and uniforms.
Bass is thrilled w’hen he sees his designs on the big screen or on a race
car streaking around the track, but he favors his more stationary w’ork.
“The car designs require many levels of approval from lots of different
people, but the paintings are
much more personal,” says
Bass, who may spend up
to 400 hours creating a
watercolor painting.
Bass began draw-
ing racecars at age
6 while growing up
in Hopewell, Va.
(pop. 22,354). “I
remember getting in
trouble in history class
for drawing racecars in
my notebook,” says Bass,
whose love of motorsports was fueled w’hen his uncles began taking him
to races.
Despite his artistic passion for cars, or maybe because of it, Bass received
a fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
His big break into racing art came in 1981, when he drove to Talladega,
Ala., to personally deliver a painting he'd done for his childhood hero,
racing legend Bobby Allison. Allison and his team liked the painting so
much that they commissioned Bass to do several more.
On his way home, Bass recalls thinking, “If I could string several of
these commissions together, I might just be able to make a living doing
this. He did just that, and by 1988 Bass had designed the paint scheme
n £ S are of Noshw//e
says 40-
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page 4
• www.americanprofile.com
A Bass-designed
guitar is the top prize
at the Nashville (Tenn.)
Superspeedway.