Rat Fink, with his badass monographed overalls, embodies counterculture in all its greasy glory for outlaws and pariahs alike. Something about the bulging-eyed misanthrope struck a chord with gearheads and other groups on the fringes of American society. His craftsmanship led him to illustrating spreads for Car Culture, where Rat Fink made his debut in 1963. Freedom.” Turning American muscle into fine art was costly, so Roth subsidized his passion by pinstriping rides, creating “Weirdo” t-shirt designs to sell at car shows, and becoming a pioneer of fiberglass bodywork. “It is not aesthetic but kinesthetic, inseparable from motion. “Ed Roth was a genius of the only uniquely American art form - that automobile,” writes Tom Wolfe in The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. Millions know and love the Rat Fink cartoon. The Rat Fink cartoon came to represent Ed’s life and legacy. Ed said that when he drew it, he knew that would be his life, that the world of his parents wasn’t for him. Though he tricked out countless vehicles, he is best known for his caricatures, the most famous of which is this deranged green beast with a passion for hanging ten and hauling ass. The Rat Fink cartoon started life, like so many great ideas, as a doodle on a napkin. Because of his passion for the quarter mile, he was one of the leading members of Kustom Kulture - a movement surrounding hot rods in the US during the mid-20th century. Roth (1932-2001) was a cartoonist, pinstriper, and custom car designer. Ed “Big Daddy” Roth dreamed up this grotesque, free-wheeling rodent as the antithesis to Mickey Mouse in the ‘60s, and almost immediately the wart-covered rodent sped his way into the hearts of America’s outcasts. Has Mickey Mouse’s shrill voice and happy-go-lucky attitude ever made you want to curb stomp the little fucker? If you share this contempt for Disney’s most wholesome icon, then you’ll probably love these Rat Fink tattoos.
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