by Ellen von Unwerth
Easy Rider, Los Angeles, 2006
Artist: Ellen von Unwerth
Shot in Los Angeles in 2006, this photograph seats Karolina Kurkova and Doutzen Kroes together on a classic motorcycle at the edge of a wide, overcast beach, both in metallic swimwear, leather gloves and vintage helmets with goggles pushed up. They lean into each other and stare level at the camera, a lifeguard truck and grey Pacific stretching out behind. Von Unwerth gives it a cool, silvery monochrome and the loaded stillness of a road-movie freeze-frame.
Read as fine art, the picture rewrites a masculine American myth, the biker and the open road, with two women squarely in the saddle and in command of it. The theme is borrowed freedom claimed outright, the helmets and machine turning glamour into something tougher and more self-possessed than pin-up. Von Unwerth’s signature is exactly this reversal, handing her subjects the swagger of a genre that rarely centred them. The work suits a bold, characterful interior that can carry its width, and speaks to collectors drawn to fashion photography’s crossover into fine art. Ellen von Unwerth’s photographs are issued as limited editions, each print part of a controlled run.
Size: medium
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