Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Lindley.
Hi Brian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a self-taught airbrush artist based in Salt Lake City with over 20 years of experience. My journey as an artist began at a young age, but it was when I discovered the airbrush that I truly found my medium. Early in my career, I began working with local motorcycle shops, including Coonyz Customz, where both my skills and reputation steadily grew.
Over the past two decades, I have collaborated with numerous custom motorcycle and automotive shops, helping bring each customer’s unique vision to life through detailed, one-of-a-kind paintwork. Alongside my work in the custom scene, I have partnered with fine art galleries to create Utah landscape paintings, blending the bold precision of custom airbrushing with the striking beauty of the desert Southwest.
I remain passionate about pushing the boundaries of airbrush artistry, continually exploring new techniques and creative approaches to evolve my craft.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road hasn’t always been smooth. Today, you can learn almost anything on YouTube, but when I first started painting, resources for airbrushing were scarce. A few workshops would come through town once a year, but they were expensive and I’ve always been a bit stubborn about forging my own path as an artist. Much of what I know came through trial, error, persistence, and countless hours behind the airbrush.
Custom airbrushing is a highly specialized craft, and the clientele is constantly evolving. There’s rarely a predictable stream of work, and that unpredictability has shaped me. Because the customer base is always changing, I’ve had the opportunity to work with an incredibly diverse range of people and projects.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in cars and motorcycles and that is my preferred stream of work, but I also paint a lot of helmets. Not just for motorcycles riders, but athletes as well.
One of the most exciting recent projects was designing the helmet for Italian 14-time Olympic medalist Arianna Fontana. At the latest Winter Games, she earned one gold and two silver medals while wearing my helmet on international television, a surreal and proud moment in my career.
I’ve also contributed artwork for television productions, including the hit series Sons of Anarchy, creating custom pieces for filming sets. And just last week, I painted a 13-foot-long velociraptor, which perfectly sums up the unpredictability of what comes through my door.
That’s the nature of this craft: I never know who the next client will be or what challenge they’ll bring. The requests can be wild, unexpected, and demanding, but adapting quickly and bringing each vision to life is exactly what has kept this career exciting for over two decades.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
The most important thing to me is creativity. The projects where the customer gives me more freedom to create are usually the most rewarding for myself and the customer.
I don’t want to be the artist that just paints skulls and flames on everything. Not that I don’t enjoy that, but I like to bring a new element into each project no matter how simple or complex. If a customer wants something I have painted a thousand times, I’m going to find a way to do it different from how I did it before.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://artsmashstudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artsmashstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtSmashStudio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artsmashstudio
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@artsmashstudio
