BAR2 - Lot 28

BAR2 JOE BAR TEAM Vents d'Ouest Ducati 350 Desmo, original illustration for a diary a diary after the release of the first album in 1991. Signed. India ink and colored inks on paper 14.4 × 8.8 cm (5.67 × 3.46 in.) This lot is part of a set of drawings created by Bar2 to illustrate the Joe Bar Team Agenda, released in 1991. For this publication, Bar2 had fun caricaturing the leading motorcycle models of the 1970s. Among them, this superb 1973 Ducati 350 Desmo. "Yes, it really is superb, this "three and a half" Desmo. Café racer in all its glory. I chose to draw it firstly because it's mythical, and secondly because, just around the corner from the street where I lived when I was a kid, I often came across this machine parked on the sidewalk, chained to a post. I was captivated by its ultra-sporty appearance (a rarity in those days), its firecracker yellow hue and its divinely sculpted single-cylinder engine. And I'm sure its owner, whom I've never met, must have looked like the guy in my drawing: a small-time thug with a menacing stare (and teeth that loosen because the machine he's riding emits such strong vibrations), always ready to do battle. At reasonable speed, of course, because behind its thoroughbred looks, this machine was not very powerful. But, as the saying goes, when you love it, you don't count the miles.