"Von Dutch: An American Original" will be on display from Sept. 3 through Oct. 5 in the university's Main Gallery at the northern end of the campus between Plummer and Halsted streets east of Etiwanda Avenue.

The most comprehensive collection of works by Von Dutch ever assembled in one setting, the exhibition will include paintings; signs and pinstripe designs; a custom built "Kenford" truck; pinstriped motorcycles, bikes, a hot rod and other vehicles; miniature canons and other weaponry; a hand-painted 1950s' hi-fi console; an installation based on his workshop; and a video interview with Von Dutch by Ed Roth.

The exhibit is drawn from the collections of Jim and Danny Brucker, Stan Chersky, Bud Ekins, Greg Escalante and others.

A corollary exhibition, "Dutched!", will feature works of approximately 20 artists from throughout California and aboard, including Peter Alexander, C.R. Stecyk III, Jim Shaw, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Robert Williams, Charles Kraft, Mark Ryden, Shag, Steve Stanford and Linda Bark'karie.

A gala celebration in honor of the exhibit will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 14 and will include a car show featuring hot rods, custom cars and bikes, live music by Deke Dickerson and the Echophonics, and refreshments.

Von Dutch, born with the name of Kenneth Howard in a Los Angeles suburb, was the son of a sign painter. He learned sign painting, pinstriping and mechanics by watching his father pinstripe flower carts at the Farmers Market, apply gold-leaf lettering on the doors of City Hall and work with tools in the garage.

At the age of ten, Howard was already painting and lettering at a professional level. By his mid-teens, he was experimenting with the skills his father taught him and was reborn as the popular beatnik cult artist Von Dutch.

In the early 1940s, Von Dutch was working for George Beerup's Motorcycle Shop first as a mechanic and then as a painter. By the mid-1950s he earned the reputation of being the vanguard pinstriper of cars and motorcycles and was highly sought after by the mushrooming hot rod and custom car culture. Dutch's custom painting designs were highly influential and set the standard for such emerging custom car designer innovators as the Barris Brothers and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

By the end of the decade, Dutch grew tired of striping and garnered a reputation as an eccentric by turning away financially lucrative projects, charging inconsistent prices for his work and being highly selective of both his clients and projects. Dutch eventually went to work for stuntman, motorcycle racer and collector Bud Ekins.

In the early 1970s, Von Dutch went to work for the Brucker family's "Cars of the Stars" museum in Buena Park. When the museum closed, he followed the collection to a Santa Paula warehouse. During these years, he hand-made close to 100 knives with exquisite brass etchings, a steam-powered television set, built a 1956 pick-up with a 1947 Kenworth cab he called the "Kenford," as well as many unique motorcycles. Von Dutch died in 1992.

For more information about the exhibit, call the Art Gallery at (818) 677-2156 or visit the web site www.csun.edu/artgalleries/. The Main Gallery's hours are Monday through Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m.

The Von Dutch exhibition will be curated by Copro/Nason Gallery and Tornado Design, with assistance from California State University, Northridge's Art Galleries.