We love sex, beautiful women, motorcycles, art and life. When Da Boss hung out at Hot Bike, he hooked up a crazed writer, Agent Zebra, with a job, inject serious life into one of the biggest mags on the planet. “These articles pissed off the tech heads and riders wound way too tight,” Bandit said. “I loved the letters that screamed in the door, 'My grandmother comes to my room. I can’t have anything like a girl in a bikini and writing like this Agent Zebra in my porta-potty bathroom.'” One of his articles involved the leather art of Kristine Mueller, agent Zebra style. Not sure he ever mentioned art, leather or painting. It was mostly Fear and Loathing in Kristine’s apartment. We laughed our asses off.
Fortunately Kristine still speaks to us. Agent Zebra is sequestered by Jeb Bush, on a small Caribbean Island. Stripped of his computer and any connection with the literary world, he still ships me rocks with articles etched into them. He missed the boat with Kristine. She’s more lovely than metallic candy apple red, softer than suede leather, stands on her own and is almost as creative as god at sunset. So natch, I used any excuse to spend a few hours in her presence gaze into her soft hazel eyes and listen to her creative endeavors.
“I had my first art lesson when I was about 10 years old and fell in love with the feeling of losing time in concentration while drawing,” Kristine said. “I painted my first oil painting when I was about 14. It was a still life of wine bottles with a bowl of grapes. I spent forever on it and my teacher was forced to go out and buy real grapes. The painting was so detailed you could tell the grapes were fake. This was the beginning of my obsession with detail.
“I continued drawing and painting lessons throughout high school and studied at a few different colleges, seeing the country along the way. After one year of freezing my butt off at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) I vowed to go south and defrost. I spent a glorious year at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, then headed to San Franciso for my first official job as an artist. I worked for a designer named Carter Keffury for about eight months, but was still too cold for comfort and decided to head south again.
“Despite all the warnings from the San Franciscans about Los Angeles I found it to be what I had been looking for all along. I spent a semester at Otis College of Art and Design, but was not satisfied with the program. Some friends from Sarasota moved to New York and convinced me it was the place to be for an artist. I transferred to the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan for a very cold semester. My apartment was too small and expensive and I missed the sunshine and space of LA. I left New York in 2000 to return to LA.
“I attended Santa Monica College as a photo major, and continued painting on my own. Photography became too technical for my taste, and I decided I'd had enough training and was ready to just go for it. I started painting full time and really getting to know the city. I always had a love of vintage clothing and found this great Jet Rag sale downtown in a warehouse on Sundays. Everything was $1 and the clothes were in knee high piles. I found tons of leather jackets that were fabulous in style, but horrific in color. I saw the potential of how cool they could be, if I could figure out how to paint or dye them.
“I began experimenting with all kinds of fabric paint and dye, and eventually found a paint that stuck. I wore these initial experimental jackets out, and people were fascinated by them. They were fun to wear and great conversation pieces. My boyfriend at the time introduced me to a woman who worked as a stylist on some TV shows. Her name was Beth Frank and she also had just started making one of a kind vintage belt buckles. She also saw the potential of painting leather and hired me to paint the leather belt straps to match her buckles. The idea took off and I spent the next 2 years painting for her, and evolving my technique and process.
”She opened a store on 3rd and Fairfax, and started selling in stores and boutiques all over the world. Her belts go for about $350 each. I also started painting leather bags for her, and she was sel ling them for anywhere up to $1000. She eventually asked me to paint jackets for her, and I had to draw the line. She was making a huge profit off my talent, and I was slaving away at $15/hr.
”I thought if I could figure out the business end of it I could make a lot of money for myself. Easier said than done! I had no business training and it did not come naturally. I had no official plan or funding. I managed to sell to a couple stores (Fred Segal, Billy Martin's, and a store on La Brea that is now defunct) but became overwhelmed and a little burned out, realizing this venture would require so much more than my initial determination.
”Business took every second of my time, and I was responsible for all the creative and labor. In the midst of my struggles came a great personal tragedy. My beloved mother became very ill from a brain tumor and passed away suddenly. I was overcome with grief and found it incredibly difficult to be alone working in my studio all the time. I found my way into an acting class. This became a much needed emotional and creative outlet. I progressed rapidly and found an agent.
”After a bad experience with an agency, who didn't pay me for a job, I decided to research the entertainment industry and take it slowly. There are so many opportunities for a young girl to be taken advantage of, I had to watch it. Around this time I was introduced to Angie Everhart and was offered the job of being her personal assistant. It was a nice change and provided some insight into the entertainment world.
”I traveled to Toronto with her while she filmed a sci-fi movie with Antonio Sabato Jr. Although it was fun, I had no time for myself and felt my creative side neglected. I needed to find less time-consuming work that would pay the bills, so I could get back to acting classes and painting. I knew I had the talent to make something happen for myself, and the unfinished attempt at making a go with the leather painting haunted me.
”One really late night I spontaneously had a friend cut my hair into a Mohawk. She was really impressed and suggested I look into working as a hair model. I went into Sebastian's headquarters in Woodland Hills that week and was hired as their Vixen girl. I sported a black high fashion Mohawk at runway shows, presentations, and photo shoots in LA and toured all over the country. It was great work and gave me the freedom to work as an artist again.
”I was in a groove, when tragedy struck again. This time my long time boyfriend was in a near-death car accident in his homestate of Nebraska. After suffering the painful loss of my mother I decided to move to Nebraska to ensure my boyfriend’s safe recovery, as I could not bear another loss of that intensity. I stayed in “cowtown” Nebraska for four long months until he was fully recovered. I drove three hours to Omaha, to fly out for modeling work on the weekends– exhausting! I had to return to LA where there were more creative opportunities. I just received my first write-up in Hot Bike Magazine and it fueled my desire once again to have a go at the painting leather jackets. The road back in LA was long and hard, to get back to where I was before I left. I immediately booked a role in an Indie film, but for deferred pay-ha! After shooting a grueling month in the desert, in August, I felt I was on track again and would pursue my dreams steadily and with a plan.
”I worked on a business plan, set goals, worked again as a model, and got back into acting classes. I did a fashion show at Cinespace in Hollywood over this last summer showing over 20 new pieces of painted leather and denim. I met my current manager through that event, a wonderful man by the name of Julian Caine and I have starred in two short films since, the latest one screening at USC on March 18th, 2007.
”I am finding a creative balance between painting, which is more introverted, and acting/modeling which is extroverted. Right now I am looking to increase my painting commissions (of jackets) and modeling work that would support me while I continue to grow as an actress. I realize these fields are extremely difficult to succeed in, but they are my passions, and I have built up an incredible endurance over the past few years in my struggles. I feel I have a lot to offer as an artist and an actress and will strive to succeed doing the work that I love.”
If she isn’t a women full of spunk and drive, there isn’t one. Bandit was beginning to melt when she offered to paint the 5-Ball team logo on the back of my Little Joe’s Legendary leather shirt. Then she wouldn’t leave our headquarters without Nyla’s vest. We hope to follow her artistic progress on Bikernet for years to come.
Wait, that’s not all. Our Bonneville arch competitors snuck around our backs to the lovely Kristine. She has a magic about her, something to do with those eyes. They thought for sure that her spell was the source of Bikernet 5-Ball racing spirit, and they desperately needed some of that mojo.
Bob T., the notorious gangster behind the Chop N Grind desert devils, out in 13 Palms, California reached out to Kristine with the Chop N Grind logo of death. He was distinctly afraid Kristine would turn his evil artwork down so he said, “Bandit sent me.” Kristine agreed to have a look.
Of course he showed up at her shop with his entire team of scurvy dogs and threatened Kristine’s life, if she didn’t give his jacket the 5-Ball Racing Mojo. There’s no competitive spirit like the Bonneville salt and a handful of guys with bent pushrods and no sponsors.
Kristine, fearful for her life, went to work and duplicated the nasty racing team logo as perfectly as could be replicated by hand. In fact it looks better than the original. She sprinkled her magic dust on the smelly leather, so the colors would never run and Bob T. and the Chop N Grind team would ride successfully into the record books forever more.
It’s just not fair, goddamnit.
