Thought I would put this up for people who might be interested ..u tough harley riders lol
http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/arts-reviews/born-to-be-wild/2009/01/28/1232818529887.html
An exhibition examines the art of the motorcycle
Marlon Brando in The Wild One. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider. Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. Sandy Harbutt's 1974 cult film Stone. For half a century, filmmakers have used the motorcycle as a symbol of youth, rebellion and unconformity. Now an unconventional exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery explores the less obvious relationship between motorbikes and contemporary art. Anne Loxley, the gallery's director, was inspired to create Born To Be Wild: The Motorcycle In Australia when she heard several thousand bikers would be descending on Penrith for the 2009 rendezvous of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club. But she was also spurred on by the experience of the Guggenheim Museum in New York a decade ago. Loxley never saw that museum's 1998 show, The Art Of The Motorcycle, but says it has gone down in curating legend since it attracted record crowds, and a rare social mix - many of whom had never been to a fine art gallery before. Loxley hopes to see plenty of bushy-bearded, black singlet-wearing patrons at her gallery, too: "If we don't get the bikie gangs, I'll be bitterly disappointed." The show, which features 24 motorcycles and paintings, sculptures and drawings by 13 leading artists, took Loxley and her fellow curators (John Kirkman, Susan Gibb and Shirley Daborn) a year to assemble. But Loxley says they never could have done it without the help from the Macquarie Towns Motorcycle Restoration and Preservation Club. "We're arty people here," Loxley explains. "The only thing that worried me was doing the motorcycle itself justice. Thankfully, we had these wonderful people … who did an enormous amount of legwork to enable us to garner such a wide selection of motorcycles." Few of them fitted the stereotype image of a biker, Loxley says. "When you get into this world of motorcycles, you realise it is as complex as any other subculture. There's a world of difference between bikie and biker. "Half of the blokes [in the restoration club] are also restoring period furniture, pianolas or pianos. They're tinkerers. They love fine design." Later, Loxley realised Penrith was a fitting venue. Apart from its proximity to Eastern Creek, Penrith was home to a popular speedway track between 1920 and 1941. The exhibition is a marriage of two halves. There are the motorbikes themselves, superb examples of the engineering age that created them. Each one is beautifully crafted and balanced, reflecting a particular breakthrough in human motion and industry. Each proudly displays what Daborn describes in the catalogue as "the aesthetic beauty inherent within industrial design". The oldest is a 1906 Triumph Magneto Ignition Model 363cc. The newest, a 1996 Harley-Davidson XLH 833 Hugger, is designed to appeal to women riders. The most stunning? That's personal preference, but it is hard to beat the 1919 Indian 1000cc. However, the immaculately restored machines, most borrowed from personal collections, also provide a reference and counterpoint to the surrounding artwork, all of which has been inspired by a simple thought: the freedom of being able to put two legs astride an engine and take off on two wheels, very fast. All, to some extent, explore the sensuality and sexuality of the motorbike, described by the American curator Charles M. Falco as "at its core, both an object of commerce and a fetish". Unsurprisingly, it is artist Tracey Moffatt who examines the fetish dimension most blatantly. According to Daborn's catalogue notes, Moffatt's 1989 work, Something More #8, "utilises cropped, low-angled close-ups to create an energy that exudes a desirous sense of power and otherness. Accompanied by the snakelike twists of a whip, highly polished black knee-high boots enter the frame and team up with the thunderous potential of a gleaming chrome motorcycle, projecting a menacing sense of faceless control over the landscape". Chris O'Doherty (aka Reg Mombassa) pictures an Australian Jesus riding through an urban setting on a motorbike rather than a donkey. Sexual politics, rather than sex itself, underpin William Yang's photograph Dykes On Bikes, documenting the participation of lesbian motorcycle riders in the Mardi Gras parade. Apparently, that first year there were only eight bikes, and Yang delighted in how the provocative women, clad in bondage gear, challenged the conventional masculine image of the motorcycle. Other artists include sculptors Margaret Dodd and Patricia Piccinini, and printmaker Scott Trevelyan. Loxley was particularly fascinated to find Trevelyan. A keen motorcyclist, he survived a near fatal crash, but suffered brain injuries. Rather than give up his bike, Trevelyan continues to ride, incorporating aspects of the crash into his artwork. Brain Bucket, which he produced in 2005, features his old motorcycle helmet stuffed with hand-made books recording details of the treatment he received in hospital. Born To Be Wild: The Motorcycle In Australia is at the Penrith Regional Gallery from Saturday until April 4.
Marlon Brando in The Wild One. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider. Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. Sandy Harbutt's 1974 cult film Stone.
For half a century, filmmakers have used the motorcycle as a symbol of youth, rebellion and unconformity. Now an unconventional exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery explores the less obvious relationship between motorbikes and contemporary art.
Anne Loxley, the gallery's director, was inspired to create Born To Be Wild: The Motorcycle In Australia when she heard several thousand bikers would be descending on Penrith for the 2009 rendezvous of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club. But she was also spurred on by the experience of the Guggenheim Museum in New York a decade ago.
Loxley never saw that museum's 1998 show, The Art Of The Motorcycle, but says it has gone down in curating legend since it attracted record crowds, and a rare social mix - many of whom had never been to a fine art gallery before. Loxley hopes to see plenty of bushy-bearded, black singlet-wearing patrons at her gallery, too: "If we don't get the bikie gangs, I'll be bitterly disappointed."
The show, which features 24 motorcycles and paintings, sculptures and drawings by 13 leading artists, took Loxley and her fellow curators (John Kirkman, Susan Gibb and Shirley Daborn) a year to assemble. But Loxley says they never could have done it without the help from the Macquarie Towns Motorcycle Restoration and Preservation Club.
"We're arty people here," Loxley explains. "The only thing that worried me was doing the motorcycle itself justice. Thankfully, we had these wonderful people … who did an enormous amount of legwork to enable us to garner such a wide selection of motorcycles."
Few of them fitted the stereotype image of a biker, Loxley says. "When you get into this world of motorcycles, you realise it is as complex as any other subculture. There's a world of difference between bikie and biker.
"Half of the blokes [in the restoration club] are also restoring period furniture, pianolas or pianos. They're tinkerers. They love fine design."
Later, Loxley realised Penrith was a fitting venue. Apart from its proximity to Eastern Creek, Penrith was home to a popular speedway track between 1920 and 1941.
The exhibition is a marriage of two halves. There are the motorbikes themselves, superb examples of the engineering age that created them. Each one is beautifully crafted and balanced, reflecting a particular breakthrough in human motion and industry. Each proudly displays what Daborn describes in the catalogue as "the aesthetic beauty inherent within industrial design".
The oldest is a 1906 Triumph Magneto Ignition Model 363cc. The newest, a 1996 Harley-Davidson XLH 833 Hugger, is designed to appeal to women riders. The most stunning? That's personal preference, but it is hard to beat the 1919 Indian 1000cc.
However, the immaculately restored machines, most borrowed from personal collections, also provide a reference and counterpoint to the surrounding artwork, all of which has been inspired by a simple thought: the freedom of being able to put two legs astride an engine and take off on two wheels, very fast.
All, to some extent, explore the sensuality and sexuality of the motorbike, described by the American curator Charles M. Falco as "at its core, both an object of commerce and a fetish". Unsurprisingly, it is artist Tracey Moffatt who examines the fetish dimension most blatantly.
According to Daborn's catalogue notes, Moffatt's 1989 work, Something More #8, "utilises cropped, low-angled close-ups to create an energy that exudes a desirous sense of power and otherness. Accompanied by the snakelike twists of a whip, highly polished black knee-high boots enter the frame and team up with the thunderous potential of a gleaming chrome motorcycle, projecting a menacing sense of faceless control over the landscape".
Chris O'Doherty (aka Reg Mombassa) pictures an Australian Jesus riding through an urban setting on a motorbike rather than a donkey.
Sexual politics, rather than sex itself, underpin William Yang's photograph Dykes On Bikes, documenting the participation of lesbian motorcycle riders in the Mardi Gras parade. Apparently, that first year there were only eight bikes, and Yang delighted in how the provocative women, clad in bondage gear, challenged the conventional masculine image of the motorcycle.
Other artists include sculptors Margaret Dodd and Patricia Piccinini, and printmaker Scott Trevelyan.
Loxley was particularly fascinated to find Trevelyan. A keen motorcyclist, he survived a near fatal crash, but suffered brain injuries. Rather than give up his bike, Trevelyan continues to ride, incorporating aspects of the crash into his artwork. Brain Bucket, which he produced in 2005, features his old motorcycle helmet stuffed with hand-made books recording details of the treatment he received in hospital.
Born To Be Wild: The Motorcycle In Australia is at the Penrith Regional Gallery from Saturday until April 4.
