![]() ![]() Roth, a huge man with wild clothes and sunglasses who spoke in beatnik jive, looked very much like someone who would give life to bizarre visions. "He not only developed the iconography for the subculture of hot rods, but also contributed to the attitude and the whole outlook of many young artists," she said, mentioning the underground comic illustrator Robert Williams, among others. Roth's influence extended beyond a cult following. Nora Donnelly, who organized this exhibition for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, where it was first shown, said Mr. Roth's work is currently being shown at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, San Diego Co., as part of an exhibition called "Customized: Art Inspired by Hot Rods, Lowriders and American Car Culture." Roth was, Wolfe said, "the most colorful, the most intellectual and the most capricious" of car customizers. Roth "a surrealist in his designs, a showman by temperament, a prankster." Tom Wolfe, in an essay in Esquire in 1963, was one of the first to elevate what insiders call "Kar Kulture" to this higher level. To the numerous museums that have exhibited hot rods and their associated artifacts in recent years, it all adds up to art. "Rat Fink" was more than once described as Mickey Mouse's evil twin. His tail was patched with athletic tape, and flies buzzed around him. ![]() By far the most popular monster was "Rat Fink," a big, hairy rat with bloodshot, bulging eyeballs and yellow, broken teeth. ![]()
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