Mark Dugally – Artist on 2 Wheels

A few years ago while attending the Progressive International Motorcycle Show at Long Beach, I met a man named Mark. I will never forget that day, because it’s also the same day that I was introduced to a couple of fledgeling stoney-bros who called themselves ‘Ryca’.
I walked around the show looking at the extended swing arms and slammed ‘Busas. One bike had a mural of Michael Jackson on it, and even had a sparkly glove under smooth fiberglass. There were turbo-ed drag racers and lots of bikes trying to crawl out of the mire that was the still-correcting  post-recession economy at the time.
All of the bikes were pretty interesting to say the least, but only one was very interesting.
That’s where Mark comes in.

Mark’s creation: project SOMMA. Inspired by Mt Vesuvius?

His bike was called the Somma. It was a mix between something you’d see in Mad Max: The Road Warrior and a Zentraedi battle ship from the Macross cartoons I saw on t.v. as a kid.
I spoke to him briefly about it. Took his card. And went back to work to peruse his creations online.
I’ll admit- I was hooked from the get go. He had some standard-ish road bikes and a Buell Ulysses on his site that were really mildly modded, but that SOMMA took the cake and stayed in my brain for a few years.

Demon Inspired super sport bobber?

Every time I needed to call a dealer contact, I’d see Mark’s business card hanging up there with the rest of them… the solitary SOMMA staring out from the sea of dealership logos and brand emblems. Of course I had to stop what I was doing and look to see if there was anything new.
Mark never disappointed. His gallery was always growing. If it wasn’t a bike that caught my eye, it would be a bedroom that he designed to look like a jungle, or a painting that looked as thought it came from Bill Plimpton and H.R. Giger at the same time.

Real cow skull and Mark’s old dreads!!

After I started the podcast I had seen Mark’s name pop up again at the Deus Biker Build Off last year. He’s in my part of town, so I had to have him on the show.

We met at his house/studio that he totally redesigned (what would you expect from an artist/interior designer?). It was visually amazing and a blast to talk about. I got to see the garage… there was an actual brain in there. Sure it was fake, but how many garages even have fake brains in them?

Is that a brain hanging in your rafters?

We covered topics off air like getting your “Artsy Fartsy” degree and hoarding cardboard. Cardboard is one of Mark’s favorite materials to work with and you can see why:

Cardboard: an Artist’s best friend.

Mark is very funny and looking around his house will tell you that he’s also very talented. Some of his humor comes through in his art work, but so does a general theme of chaos, order from chaos, and decay. This is what makes his style so engaging. You can see ambivalent themes playing together right before your eyes.
I stayed past midnight and we talked about so many things that I would have had to do a 3-part podcast to catch it all. How about we just check back in with him later this year to see how things are going? Sound Fair?

Mark can be contacted at info@dugallery.com,
Instagram @Dugallery
You can look him up on Facebook
He also does tattoo work by appointment, and that is another story for another time…
For now, sit back and enjoy the images that Mark was gracious enough to share: Podcast is here.