A Right Noble Calling: An Interview With Taliah Lempert

Not only is Taliah Lempert the best painter of bicycles I know, she is also the only person I know from Brooklyn. My understanding of the place is pretty skewed, consisting only of the classic book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and the equally classic- but not very American- Brooklyn team that sponsored Roger De Vlaminck in the 1960's, most famously in Leth's "The Hell of the North".


But about Ms. Lempert I know a bit more. Though she started riding bikes on sensible folding bikes and cruisers, her own riding tastes fall a little more to the organic, minimal side of things these days. She's that rare fixed rider that actually races on a velodrome track, but at the same time, she is also a dyed-in-the-wool commuter. And I envy the quality time she's spent with many bikes that I would view as icons, including the "Huffy" that my early cycling hero Andy Hampsten rode to victory in the Giro D'Italia, one of Hans Rey's trials bikes, and the bike featured in the image below, Jacquie Phelan's drop-bar Cunningham known as Otto. Along with other lesser-known but equally interesting bikes that it seems are almost beyond number.


Bikes aside, though, I wanted to find out what other artists inspire Taliah. An impossible question we probably couldn't understand the real answer to, but she was able to say that "Today, it's Lucian Freud, Jim Dine, Diebenkorn, Polly Apfelbaum..." I've included some of their work, but don't claim to have chosen particularly wisely.


If this short glimpse of her artwork intrigues you, I encourage you to check out www.bicyclepaintings.com for much more of Lempert's portraits, and for the contact information to buy or commission your own.




RK: What's Your Favorite Book? Why?
TL: Bike Cult, the Ultimate Guide to Human Powered Vehicles: It’s my favorite book for so many reasons.

RK: What's your favorite place you've ever travelled?
TL: I’m not sure. I have great memories of most of the places I’ve traveled to.
I loved riding my bike in Northern California and Italy and had a great time (long ago) backpacking and working around China. It’s cool to travel around this country too. I like have plenty of time in the studio though, there’s no place like home.

RK: Do you have a hero? Who?
TL: My dad is my hero! (Ed. Note: As the father of a young girl, I was glad to read this!)

RK: Do you do things other than MTB? and/or What OTHER sports do you participate in? (Should've modified the question better! Sorry! But these are the actual questions as I sent them to her)
TL: I'm not actually much of a mountain biker, cause there’s not much off-road opportunity in NYC.
I’m mostly on the road, these days. Other sports? I like painting and making stuff.


RK: Who helped you the most, to get where you are in this sport/industry/craft?
TL: Dave Perry helped and helps me the most, with everything from critiquing my artwork to literally helping me move it to where it needs to go.


RK: Tell us about your favorite bike you've ever owned... is it your current bike?
TL: That’s a hard one. I don’t think I have an absolute favorite. There’s things I love about all my bikes.
Maybe the favorite one, is the one that got me into commuting in NYC. It was a big Schwinn Clunker 5.
Schwinn made it in 1978, I think it was their first mountain bike. It was a cantilever frame, with a derailleur and 5 gears, a drum brake, obese tires and heavy duty everything. It was awesome and ridiculous. I loved it. It weighed a ton. I stopped using it so much when I moved up to the third floor and got my first track bike. I sold the Schwinn years ago. Last time I saw it, there was a family of three on board.