Posts Tagged ‘Americana’

Utility Love

Monday, December 5th, 2011

all images © Jonathan Levitt

We’ve been trying to define what we love about Jonathan Levitt’s blog, Grass Doe.

Grass Doe is a collection of the Maine photographer’s images, updated regularly.

There are beautiful images of snowbound wolves, bucolic riverine moments and delectable slant-​​lit plates of food fit for the most cultured of woodsmen.

There are amazingly textured rock forma­tions, woods full of turning leaves and silent pathways that hint of isolated adventure.

But among these immacu­lately presented inter­pret­a­tions of nature’s wonders is sprinkled the occasional great shot of cars and bikes; more often than not of the supremely utilit­arian kind.

It makes sense to us. After all vehicles are essen­tially magic carpets through which you exper­ience the world in all its wonder. At least if you allow them to be.

Something about the way the cars and bikes are repres­ented here foregrounds that aspect of car culture, and it chimes deeply somewhere within us.

Do yourself a favour and bookmark Jonathan’s sites.

A California state of mind....

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

David Hockney saw it.

From the perspective of a grim English town in the fifties, the grey wash flattening and unifying everything you saw into dreary monochrome, California looked special.

He may have been only looking at Black and White imagery of the West Coast, but he could see in the strength of the shadows that there was something special happening in the sunlight.

Woody Allen said of California that he wasn’t inter­ested in living in a place when the only cultural advantage of doing so was that you could turn left on a red. But when the sun flooded the celluloid and we all started dreaming of sunshine, you didn’t care.

There’s something special about California car culture that begins and ends with this wash of light. You can see it in the classic Cal-​​Look Beetle.

This drear November day, we thought we’d bring you a selection of cars in the sun. Happy day.

[It really is] Better In the Wind

Monday, November 14th, 2011

We’ve been following the progress of Scott Teopfer’s pet project since the early times. We had a sense that it just might encap­sulate something beautiful about motorcycling.

And we were right.

The finished version of the film is lovely. It evokes a real spirit of freedom, adventure and open-​​heartedness; something that when it comes down to it, should charac­terise motorbike culture from top to bottom.

These guys celebrate the open road and the explor­ation of it for its own sense. No petty crap about different tribes, aesthetics and schisms within bike culture. We think you’ll agree, this is a beautiful 15 minutes that makes you want to go out and ride and ride and ride.

Bravo, Scott…

Hot Rod Exploitation

Friday, November 11th, 2011

The history of the hot rod scene is of course inter­twined with that of rock’n’roll. And at the end of the fifties, when teen rebellion was being packaged as yet another consumer decision of the chrome clad American dream, hollywood of course wanted a slice of the action.

But it wasn’t just big studio produc­tions like Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild One that got involved. There were dozens of cheaper, more obscure exploit­ation flicks that populated the drive ins and matinees of America.

Hot Rod Gang featured rock legend Gene Vincent, along with his band of players the Blue Caps. The film is full the usual caste of characters racing, fighting, flirting and dancing to Vincent classics. There are chicken runs, betrayals, drag races and frustrated teen angst : all the elements that made teenagers ache to own a hot rod, and therefore perpetuate the culture.

But we love the bold, pulpish noir of the graphic style of these posters. And of course, the music is killer, too.

Introducing...the Gaskettes

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Straight out of one of the only cities on the planet where such a thing could exist, let alone get their image out there, come the Gaskettes — an all-​​female, gold jacket wearing, 50cc rocking crew of Puch lovers.

Yes, capital of all things leftfield San Francisco is home to this crew and you can’t help but admire the way they approach their little bikes.

That attitude of playfulness and irrev­erence can only make this sort of gathering appealing: bike are supposed to be about fun after all, aren’t they?

And looking at their site it seems that boys are allowed to play too, and some of them have big bikes and cars as well!

Via Corpses from hell

YouTube Preview Image

John Rawlings

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

All images © John Rawlings/​Condé Naste

Photographer John Rawlings was one of a pod of key creative photo­graphers employed by publishing house Condé Naste in the fifties.

Along with luminaries like Irving Penn, to create in the pages of Vogue and other titles the chrome clad version of the American dream.

In a way these images are the photo­graphic equivalent of the artwork of Art Fitzpatrick, who we have inter­viewed here.

In Rawlings work the link between the design of the behemoth cruisers and the broader world of fashion reaches its ultimate expression.

You can feel the affluence of a very specific time and a place in these images, and the idealised version of American womanhood (as possession as much as the car) that they represented.

Amazing too when you consider how beauty and fashion is still used to sell the dream of an automobile — albeit in a huge variety of ways — fifty years on.

National Lampoon's Roadtrip

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

There’s something about the great American road. It’s always been an arena of mythic adven­tures, tortured mishaps and, if you’re lucky, hilarious comedy.

And the comedy doesn’t get much more hilarious than that dreamt up by Chevy Chase. His National Lampoons series of movies always manage to hit the comedic spot : and there’s often a lovely bit of kooky, on-​​period automotive action involved too.

Here, the great man and archetypal American dad, styles out his road trip whilst trying to impress eighties bomsbhell and ‘uptown girl’ Christie Brinkley as she shadows their wagon in her targa-​​topped Ferrari 308.. Which, it has to be said, look tantal­isingly accessible these days. Especially without a super­model at the helm.

Stay tuned for more Chevy action.

YouTube Preview Image