Hopping onto LinkedIn this morning and what to my eyes do appear, but a change of job notification for my/our beloved painter, Andrew Swenson. This fool started a new job and in his profile pic, is wearing a shirt and tie. A friggin' shirt and tie. I panicked and laughed - and I'm not sure in what order. What is this - a real job? So in proper recognition of his passing in the racing industry/world, I wanted to say thanks to ASD for the years of top-notch painting on our race bikes. Show-bike quality. It is honestly the best work we've ever had done. For anyone who's had stuff done by him, you know he stresses you out to no end. You get him bodywork before all other race bike preparations occur, and it's the last thing to arrive - without fail. You end up exchanging Christmas gifts with your your FedEx guy because you became best friends with him - chasing a truck around town, for the bodywork that was 1 or 2-day shipped to arrive on Thursday, when leaving for the races that night/weekend. You end up texting him multiple times, leave a voicemail, then trying to slide into his DM's like an Instagram meme gone terribly wrong. But you don't care. And while sometimes maddening, he was always calm and collected about the task at hand. Andrew's work is the best out there. No one has more attention to detail than him. His work is impeccable. We passed on local painters who were really good to have him paint our stuff. It got to the point where we'd break the cardinal rule of bodywork and paint prep - having the bodywork shipped directly from Sharkskinz - right to him, where we'd fit/mount it on the bike once painted. That's how solid he was. He comes up with great designs, various ideas and detail you rarely see from anyone else. He'd work with the bodywork manufacturers on ideas/improvements. He'd do fabrication on tanks. He'd do all kinds of little things that justified the added time. Sure, he has a fault in liking gradient fades (still ain't doing that 'Drew). Sure, requiring a signature and insuring 2-3 boxes seems maddening, when checking tracking at 11:59pm the night before. But his work justified it. Getting a set of bodywork painted - amidst the stress - was always worth it. Sure, it's race bodywork and it'll get crashed, but when you've got legit sponsors helping out, having bikes that pop and stand out on the podium, in photos, posters, videos, etc. That attention to detail matters and has had tangible benefits over the years (it also just happened to line up perfectly with my own OCD). So thanks 'Drew. I love ya, I hate ya. Order of that is irrelevant. I know you'll still be painting here and there, but glad you got into an industry where you can make some legit money and not work crazy schedules for way less than you're worth. Best of luck, buddy.
OK if we are going to post pictures of Drew's work...here is my favorite (might be a little biased though). I know Eddie doesn't like the fade or black wheels, but I think it works well.
My ASD masterpiece. Pics don’t do it justice, even almost 10 years later. I was hoping to use his services for something new this year.
Wow. I wish him the best. He did an absolutely killer job for me, however I know some people went with him somewhat recently based on my recommendation, and they were actually unhappy with the final result...typical asd delivery stresses aside. I imagine towards the end things got tough for him. With that being said... I wish I could capture just how incredible this bike came out.
That's the thing, the bikes in this thread all look awesome, but if the rest are anything like mine, pics don't even come close to showing the detail in the paint. You just have to see it in person to really appreciate how great of an artist Swenson is.
Photos definitely don't do Andrew's work justice. Among the best I've seen. Very grateful to have owned a bike he painted:
Bit better quality Photo. The pop of the silver with the flake is intense. Especially when he fades it into the black.
Damnit Drew!!! congrats duder... I have had a few bikes painted by him over the years.. they are always amazing... this was my fav.
As someone that gave him 1500 in August and can’t get him to respond to me or have anything to show for it, I have a different name for him. Any guesses?