http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=40733
September 12, 2010
BENTONVILLE, ARK.- See the real "easy riders" this fall at the
Massey, Crystal Bridges' temporary gallery in downtown Bentonville.
Danny Lyon: Bikeriders, on display through October 31, presents
photographs and excerpts from Danny Lyon's 1968 book The Bikeriders,
a seminal work of modern photojournalism based on Lyon's four years
on the road with the Chicago Outlaws. Riding a 650-cc Triumph
motorcycle and armed with Nikon and Rolleiflex cameras and a
seven-pound portable tape recorder, Lyon documented dirt track racing
and motorcycle gang life with photographs and stories that are as raw
and compelling today as they were when The Bikeriders was published
decades ago. Danny Lyon: Bikeriders, organized by art2art Circulating
Exhibitions, features 61 black and white photographs of leather-clad
bikers racing, riding and relaxing in cafes, bars and hotel rooms
across the United States, accompanied by excerpts from Lyon's interviews.
"Danny Lyon is one of the major figures in post-War American
photography," said Chris Crosman, chief curator. "His immersion in
his subject matter and use of text from taped interviews were
groundbreaking when The Bikeriders was published and continue to be
influential today."
Lyon began his career in the early 1960s documenting the Civil Rights
movement as staff photographer for the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee. He took up motorcycling while studying
history at the University of Chicago and in 1963 joined the Chicago
Outlaws with the vision of creating a new kind of photo-story,
different from those that appeared in the pages of Life and Look
magazines. The Bikeriders established Lyon as a major new talent and
propelled the motorcycle counterculture into American consciousness a
full year before Dennis Hopper's film Easy Rider was released.
"The Bikeriders represented a significant step in 1960s American
photography, not only launching an important photographic career, but
also giving a younger generation of photographers a spokesman of
their own age," Martin Parr writes in The Photobook: A History, Vol.
I. "Lyon was part of the generation he was photographing, so was able
to talk with an authentic voice about his subjects, understanding
instinctively not only their hopes and aspirations, but also why they
were rebelling against all kinds of adult authority."
Danny Lyon has produced ten photography books and ten documentaries
on subjects ranging from the 1986 Haitian revolution to inmates of
the Texas Department of Corrections. He has received numerous
Rockefeller, Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships, and his photographs are
included in the collections of major museums across the United States.
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