Harrod Blank

Harrod Blank

Harrod Blank is a California native who grew up in the Bonny Doon Mountains of Santa Cruz, where he attended high school and college. In 1989, he moved to Berkeley, where he currently lives part-time. When Harrod Blank first realized that his '65 VW Beetle could be treated as a canvas, the result was "Oh My God!". Painted like a beach ball with a bumper of plastic fruit & rubber chickens, a chalkboard on back and a TV on the roof, the car was the catalyst for his remarkable career. Initially, Blank thought he was the only one in the world with an Art Car, and at times felt quite alienated. This would change, as he gradually learned from supporters that there were other such cars, spread out across the country. Drawing from what he had learned from his father, filmmaker Les Blank, and the BA in Theater Arts/Film he earned at UC Santa Cruz in 1986, Blank began photographing other Art Cars. Subsequently, he raised money through private investors and took out loans as needed to finance the 64-minute documentary he dreamed of making: Wild Wheels (1992). To his credit, over 55 million people worldwide have now seen the film. Blank initially distributed "Wild Wheels", featuring 46 Art Cars and their respective artists, by driving "Oh My God!" with the film to 50 cities across the country. Publicity from the tour gained the interest of PBS, which broadcast the film repeatedly as a National Special in 1993. The following year, Blank's photography was featured in a companion book, "Wild Wheels" (Pomegranate, 1994; Blank Books, 2001), which was named "Best Book for Young Adults" by the American Library Association. Blending his passion for Art Cars and his love of photography, Blank was inspired by a dream to attach 1,705 cameras to a 1972 Dodge van. Cleverly hiding ten working cameras among the rest, Blank had finally found a way to capture on film the public's candid expressions of awe and delight. In 1995, Blank drove the "Camera Van" to New York City for its official "debut" and shot over 5,000 photographs for a photography exhibit, "I've Got A Vision". In 1995, still enthusiastic about the beauty and power of Art Cars, Blank began production of a feature-length sequel to Wild Wheels (1992). A short version of the film (Driving the Dream (1998), 29 minutes) was broadcast on TBS's National Geographic Explorer in October 1997 to help raise money for the epic feature-length film, Automorphosis (2009), was premiered January 2009 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Thirteen years in the making, "Automorphosis" is considered Harrod's life's work up to this point. Blank made his third Art Car in 1998, an interactive mariachi-themed music mobile called "Pico De Gallo", later unveiled in his new book, "Art Cars: the Cars, the Artists, the Obsession, the Craft" (Lark Books, 2002). Gene Shalit heralded the book on the Today (1952) Show as his favorite holiday gift suggestion. The Petersen Automotive Museum hosted a major exhibition of Art Cars in Spring 2003, of which Harrod Blank was Guest Curator. As of July 2010, Blank is releasing Automorphosis (2009), and is editing "Burning Man: the Movie", a documentary film thirteen years in the making about the radical arts festival. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Harrod Blank

  • Title: Harrod Blank
  • Popularity: 0.017
  • Known For: Directing
  • Birthday: 1963-02-04
  • Place of Birth: California, U.S.
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As:
img

Harrod Blank Movies

  • 2007
    imgMovies

    Automorphosis

    Automorphosis

    1 2007 HD

    AUTOMORPHOSIS looks into the minds and hearts of a delightful collection of eccentrics, visionaries, and just plain folks who have transformed their...

    img
  • 1980
    imgMovies

    Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers

    Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers

    7.5 1980 HD

    A zesty paean of praise to the greater glories of garlic. This lip-smacking foray into the history, consumption, cultivation and culinary/curative...

    img
  • 2008
    imgMovies

    Oh My God! It's Harrod Blank!

    Oh My God! It's Harrod Blank!

    1 2008 HD

    An obsessively-made documentary, filmed over 16 years, exploring the creative life and adventures of the eccentric artist and entrepreneur Harrod...

    img
  • 1988
    imgMovies

    Killer Klowns from Outer Space

    Killer Klowns from Outer Space

    6.581 1988 HD

    Aliens disguised as clowns crash land on Earth in a rural town to capture unsuspecting victims in cotton candy cocoons for later consumption.

    img
  • 2019
    imgMovies

    Why Can't I Be Me? Around You

    Why Can't I Be Me? Around You

    1 2019 HD

    Rusty, a male race enthusiast, decides at 53 to get breasts. His father cuts his pay, his motorcycle friends abandon him and the women he dates all...

    img
  • 1986
    imgMovies

    Peggy Sue Got Married

    Peggy Sue Got Married

    6.125 1986 HD

    Peggy Sue faints at a high school reunion. When she wakes up she finds herself in her own past, just before she finished school.

    img
  • 1987
    imgMovies

    In the Land of the Owl Turds

    In the Land of the Owl Turds

    1 1987 HD

    Roland drives a dada art gallery on wheels and attracts more girls than he knows what to do with. Unfortunately, they rarely stick around. Can it be...

    img
  • 2007
    imgMovies

    Automorphosis

    Automorphosis

    1 2007 HD

    img
  • 1992
    imgMovies

    Wild Wheels

    Wild Wheels

    1 1992 HD

    img
  • 1987
    imgMovies

    In the Land of the Owl Turds

    In the Land of the Owl Turds

    1 1987 HD

    img
  • 2014
    imgMovies

    Warriors of Joy: A Native American Celebration in Louisiana

    Warriors of Joy: A Native American Celebration in Louisiana

    1 2014 HD

    img
  • 1987
    imgMovies

    Huey Lewis and the News: Before!

    Huey Lewis and the News: Before!

    1 1987 HD

    img
  • 2019
    imgMovies

    Why Can't I Be Me? Around You

    Why Can't I Be Me? Around You

    1 2019 HD

    img
  • 1974
    imgMovies

    A Poem Is a Naked Person

    A Poem Is a Naked Person

    7.7 1974 HD

    img
  • 1988
    imgMovies

    Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have a Ball

    Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have a Ball

    10 1988 HD

    img
  • 1988
    imgMovies

    Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have a Ball

    Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have a Ball

    10 1988 HD

    img
  • 1997
    imgMovies

    Driving the Dream

    Driving the Dream

    1 1997 HD

    img
  • 1980
    imgMovies

    Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

    Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

    7 1980 HD

    img
  • 1987
    imgMovies

    In the Land of the Owl Turds

    In the Land of the Owl Turds

    1 1987 HD

    img
  • 1987
    imgMovies

    In the Land of the Owl Turds

    In the Land of the Owl Turds

    1 1987 HD

    img
  • 2022
    imgMovies

    Dugout Dick

    Dugout Dick

    10 2022 HD

    img
  • 2022
    imgMovies

    Dugout Dick

    Dugout Dick

    10 2022 HD

    img
  • 2014
    imgMovies

    Warriors of Joy: A Native American Celebration in Louisiana

    Warriors of Joy: A Native American Celebration in Louisiana

    1 2014 HD

    img