Biography - David Mann Gallery

David Mann (1940-2004)

The son of artist Paul Mann, a member of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators of London, David Mann was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1940.  While in high school David began pencil-sketching cars which led to his first job - pinstriping cars.  After graduation, drawn to the west coast, David headed out for California in a customized 1947 Chevy coupe.  It was there that he discovered chopped motorcycles. Returning to Kansas, Mann purchased his first motorcycle, a 1948 Harley Davidson.  Then, with watercolors, he created his first painting, Hollywood Run.  Painting in hand, David entered his motorcycle in the 1963 Kansas City Custom Car Show.  David's was the only custom bike entry in the show and for his innovation the judges created a class and a trophy. Tiny, an outlaw biker from Sioux City, Iowa, saw David's painting propped up near his motorcycle at the show and sent a photo of it to Ed "Big Daddy" Roth who purchased it for his custom motorcycle magazine Chopper.  Over the next several years Mann created 14 works of art for Roth.

In 1971 David answered an ad in Easyriders magazine looking for artists who "are hip and can draw choppers".  The painting he submitted in answer to that ad, Frisco Nights, appeared in the third issue of Easyriders.  The rest is history!!

David Mann passed away in 2004 but his amazing legacy of biker art lives on.