Cruisin' creativity: Jesse Raine Littlebird transforms a car into a canvas honoring Native American culture

As chaos swirls, Jesse Raine Littlebird always has a plan.

Sometimes he knows what the plan is.

Other times, he waits patiently until it’s revealed.

For his latest project, the Albuquerque-based artist — who does work in large-scale pieces — decided to change the medium up with “Petroglyph.”

Cruisin' creativity: Jesse Raine Littlebird uses a car as a canvas to honor Native American culture

Earlier this year, Littlebird (Laguna/Kewa Pueblos) created a commissioned painting for “Breaking Bad” actor Jeremiah Bitsui.

With the money, Littlebird told Bitsui he was going to purchase a classic car and paint it.

“No one believed me,” Littlebird said.

Littlebird purchased a fire engine red 1973 Dodge Dart sedan — which has become “Petroglyph.”

He says the lines of the vehicle immediately grabbed his attention.

“This was a car of the people,” the 32-year-old artist explained. “It would have been known as the ‘grocery getter’ as families were the ones who owned the vehicles back in the 1970s. Some people really liked the original paint on it.”

Littlebird knew he wanted to pay homage to Native American culture with the car, which features Pueblo pottery designs.

He took inspiration from “Maria” by Rose B. Simpson. Simpson did the design and bodywork on a 1985 Chevy El Camino. The designs are inspired by traditional Tewa black on black pottery, named after Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo.

He was also inspired by Keith Haring, who painted a handful of cars in the 1980s.

The renowned artist died in 1990 at the age of 31, but left his impact on the world.

Haring is known for painting a 1971 Land Rover Series III, where he decorated the vehicle with his signature painted lines featuring animals, people and flying saucers during an artist-in-residency at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1983.

He also painted a 1963 Buick Special, which was adorned in blue and red. The car features some of Haring’s recognizable themes, including dancing figures inspired by New York City’s disco and rap scenes.

“I’ve seen pictures of Keith’s cars and he hand painted a lot of them,” Littlebird said. “That dispelled a lot of mythology about car painting.”

Littlebird also found inspiration in tattoo artist Mike Giant’s 1965 Pontiac Tempest.

Giant was born in New York, but grew up in Albuquerque, where the diverse culture influenced his work.

“Mike’s black and white work shows his openness about painting,” he said. “Looking at his work, it really inspired me to talk to the local lowrider community about the process. It’s been humbling and exciting as the journey continues to move forward.”

Littlebird has been a professional artist for the past six years.

He’s had commercial success and with that he’s wanted to put the money from art into bigger projects.

“The natural place for me to start is a car,” he said. “I’ve loved cars all my life and there’s such a unique classic car culture here in New Mexico. We talk about Chicano lowriders and it extends even further than that. The vehicles have solid bones here in New Mexico and it’s because we do have that dry climate.”

With the car purchased, Littlebird set himself a deadline of the project being completed by August — as he wanted to showcase the car during the Santa Fe Indian Market.

He went into the studio in June to begin work on the 51-year-old vehicle.

“I wanted to learn about the whole era,” he said. “One of the things I found myself doing was listening to music from the 1970s. Lots of Marvin Gaye.”

The vehicle has been showcased at Lapis Room in Old Town and at Indian Market, and will be shown inside Indian Village at the New Mexico State Fair.

It’s also garnered attention via social media.

“It’s really exciting to see the response because it has gone viral online,” he said. “The entire process was something I felt I had to do.”

Littlebird’s learned from the shape of cars, which brought him back to a lesson he learned as a young artist.

“I approached the vehicle the same way I learned to work on pottery,” he said. “There is a natural geometry when you break it down.”

Littlebird will continue to showcase the vehicle when he can — though he currently has it for sale.

When it sells, he will take the money and invest in more vehicles to paint.

“Whoever buys the car, I hope that they will make it available for exhibitions,” Littlebird said. “This is only the beginning of this new chapter.”