Here we are – just a few days from our gallery reception on Thursday. This show represents our eight years of publishing the most unique car culture magazine, represented by the art we’ve become defined by.

Now, art comes in all forms and you’ll see some of the best photography, illustration, paintings and machinery being created in our culture. We hope to see you at 111 Minna Gallery (Minna at 2nd St. in the SoMa neighborhood in San Francisco) on Thursday. When you get there, don’t worry – you won’t be able to miss the crowd and rows of customs and hot rods parked out front. That’s where we’ll be!

There’s not much more that can be said about photographer Timothy White. OK, OK – that’s a bunch of crap, since I can find something to say about almost everything. Timothy absolutely creates some of the most memorable and recognized images of our generations. Some of it you may recognize as his – the Indian Larry coffee table book, for example. Some of it you’ll know, but didn’t realize was his work – just about every third movie poster you’ve seen in the last few years.

White is the rare combination of an artist at the top of his game and a guy who loves to hang out under a bridge with his car club. That pretty much sums up Timothy White and we couldn’t be more proud to feature his work on our covers – watch for more collaboration in the future.

To say we were stoked when we got the chance to work with Estevan Oriol would be a little bit of an understatement. Estevan, a member of the prolific SA Studios in downtown Los Angeles, has been influencing not only modern photography, but popular culture in general with his work.

See, not only does the guy’s photography chronicle the beauty of life in parts of the L.A. jungle you’ll probably never see otherwise, his collaborations with the other members of SA make him a powerhouse of creativity, design, filmmaking and a bunch of other cool shit we’re not allowed to talk about. Dig it.

“I take risks every day, Dan – I made photography my career…” Jay Watson and I were sitting on our boards in the water off the Northern California coast when he put the art of photographer as a lifetime devotion in perspective for me. I like to think that we surround ourselves with people who are as dedicated to their craft as we are to ours and Jay never ceases to impress us or surprise us with his work.

You really need to take a look at Jay’s site to get an idea of the breadth of work this guy creates for us.

One of my favorite elements of this magazine is that its content attracts some some real stars. What I mean by that is this: the personalities we cover and the things they build and/or do are attractive subject matter to the best artists working today. They get inspired by what hotrodders do naturally.One of those artists is photographer Karen Kuehn.

I had first met Karen years ago on the type of photoshoot you see in movies: lots of assistants running around, chocolate truffels on set, a beautiful location on the roof of a New York City skyscraper…but she’s also just as willing and able to make arresting images on the floor of a dirty garage with a bitchin’ car and a beautiful girl. And a luke-warm burrito. I think that makes for more memorable images, anyway…