The Mona Lisa Of Motorcycles In $50 Million Art Sale

Modern artist Jack Armstrong is once again the owner of the most expensive motorcycle in the world!

The Cosmic Starship Harley he sold in 2012 for $3 Million has recently changed hands in a record art sale. Armstrong exchanged his $50 Million Cosmic X Painting titled: Star Key #733 with the family that owned the custom painted Harley Davidson motorcycle.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Jack Armstrong and get his personal reactions to the big news.

The painting’s #733 title has a significant meaning. It is the exact ct. number of the 733ct Black Star Sapphire Of Queensland, which he loaned to Canada’s Largest Museum – The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. In 2007, the Black Star Sapphire Of Queensland was featured in the grand reopening of the Crystal Addition, which was the biggest event in the museum’s history.

The Black Star Sapphire Of Queensland was exhibited in the American National Gem Collection (Smithsonian Museum) from 1961-1969 and was owned by artist Jack Armstrong from 2002 – 2008. When Armstrong loaned the Black Star Sapphire to the Royal Ontario Museum for their Grand Reopening party in July 2007, the world once again got to see the most famous star sapphire in the world shine like the moon with the most perfect star gem on earth. The sapphire was the star of the show when the most important VIP’s arrived in Canada for the grand opening celebration that lasted a week.
Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum – Michael Lee Chin – Crystal Age at the ROM

The famous Sapphire was worn by both Priscilla Presley and Cher – on the first season of the “Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” TV Show.

Armstrong says.“The Cosmic Starship Harley motorcycle is my masterpiece and will either be exhibited to the public once more or will be sold to a public or private museum, or collector. It will allow the public to see this one-off piece of motorcycle art history.”

Armstrong was quoted, “My motorcycle is now officially the Most Valuable Bike in the world. I don’t want it to be stored any longer in a vault and would like to see it reappear in a public or private collection. Similar to my friend Andy Warhol, it truly is my Campbell’s Soup Can.”
Andy Warhol and Jack Armstrong: One Artist’s Soup Can Is Another’s Harley-Davidson

Paul Jayson is a well-known and highly respected UK Motorcycle historian, curator and restoration expert. He states, “The Armstrong ‘Starship’ Harley is simply the finest art motorcycle ever made.”
The Motorcycle As Art – The Motorcycle Broker

The Cosmic Starship Harley had been stored in a climate-controlled vault for 10 years and has not been seen by the public since it’s 2010 World Premiere event in L.A., California. Attended by many celebrities, this amazing event was covered by the International Press. Jack Armstrong and actor Lorenzo Lamas were both filmed on the motorcycle at the legendary Bartels Harley Davidson. Jack also talks about Andy in the below video.

Armstrong says he feels a bit like Leonardo da Vinci, who travelled with his own “Mona Lisa” painting his entire life. Armstrong states, “Some things change your life. This Starship Motorcycle is like a part of my family. It’s the most iconic motorcycle in art history and I will now search for the right setting to display it. I want to share it with the art and museum world once again.”

Many in the art world believe Jack’s Cosmic Starship Harley motorcycle is a singular art masterwork. It stands alongside his other masterpieces: Warhol Naked, Cosmic X Paradigm and The Last Wizard as the most important works in “Cosmic X” art.

Armstrong says, “It seems amazing that I told Warhol in the 1980’s when I rode him on the back of my 1000 Harley Sportster in New York City that one day, I would create the world’s most valuable art motorcycle. Andy not only thought it was a great idea, but I actually saw him creating motorcycles in his Last Supper Exhibition for Rome just before he died.”
The Vatican to Host Major Andy Warhol Exhibition – The Art Newspaper

Lionello Fabbri/SCIENCE SOURCE

Jack continues, “It was possible that after all our rides together, Andy started painting motorcycles. 25 years later, when I was being photographed by the world press in L.A. I thought of my friend Andy and my old Harley and smiled for the cameras.”

Warhol was driven in his own Rolls Royce by Mick Jagger, Liza Minelli and Imelda Marcos. But Armstrong believes Andy riding on Jack’s 1980 Harley Davidson were the only times, Warhol ever rode on a motorcycle in New York City.
Andy Warhol Cars Shows the Artist’s Love for Automotives – Sixtysix Mag

Revolver Gallery

Jack Armstrong feels the same way about the Cosmic Starship Motorcycle as he did with the famous sapphire. Saying “It needs to be seen so it can cosmically change the way people feel. As they view it, the motorcycle comes to life in extreme colors that make the mind bend. It changes their own reality in ways that only the viewer can describe after seeing this motorcycle live and in color on exhibit. I feel it’s an unforgettable experience in motorcycle and art history.”

Armstrong continues, “The person who will collect it and curate it in the future, can build a car or motorcycle collection around it. Or center it in any renowned art collection and watch it virtually steal the show, no matter what priceless paintings surround it. My Cosmic Starship Harley will become the ultimate conversation piece, when anyone who loves art enters its orbit.”

For Armstrong to trade one of his favorite paintings for possibly his favorite creation, is nothing new for the rebel artist. Jack states, “I created this motorcycle to be seen. The only way for that to happen was to remove it from its hidden existence. Let it shine again on the world stage, where it will occupy a place in the art and museum world like no other motorcycle can.”

Armstrong channels all his 100 rare, original paintings and the Cosmic Starship Harley motorcycle (a 2009 Harley Davidson V-Rod) from Universal Transcendence. He lets the object he’s painting to virtually come to life, by simply allowing the universe to flow through himself as the creation takes place. Oneness is the unique state of being that Armstrong says is not ‘only the ‘center’ of his talent but is also the metaphysical state of creation that created the stars.

Jack Armstrong created the most expensive paintings in the world by a living artist.
The 7 Most Expensive Paintings In The World By A Living Artist – The Life of Luxury
WikiArt – Jack Armstrong
JackArmstrong.us

Click and view this once-in-a-lifetime, visually stunning art collection.

Contact Andrew William for more information about this sale, by using the Contact Us form.