Love, Speed and Death shows the response of 3 artists to popular culture from the world of motorcycle racing.
The phrase ‘love, speed and death’ (reminiscent of the title of the motorcycle documentary film Love, Speed and Loss) was used by artist Damien Kurth in a discussion explaining his interest in painting still life work that focuses on components from motorcycles.
The show Love, Speed and Death was built around this evocative phrase to explore in general, imagery from popular culture and the subsequent transformation of this into art work. The theme of motorcycle culture, with its heady mix of danger and romantic mythology, lends itself perfectly to this purpose.
Kurth paints from life, using spare parts from his own motorcycle and garage ephemera. He presents deadpan images; a water pump or an engine part becomes an object of close analysis, whose form may mean nothing to the uninitiated yet will be instantly recognised by those in the motorcycle fraternity. The device then becomes viewed in two distinct ways - as an object in space forming part of a compositional element in a painting and secondly, as a recognisable icon with all attendant associations.
The other participating artists have explored altogether different aspects of motorcycle culture. PJ Paterson focuses on romance and danger, elements evoked by the mythology of early ‘dare-devil’ racing from the early 1900s to the 1950s with makeshift tracks, souped-up engines and limited safety gear. His works utilise a minimalist aesthetic while exploring photographic source images. By paring back extraneous detail, Paterson reduces representations to a few evocative elements, creating exciting images that hype the thrills and danger associated with motorcycle culture.
Andrew Barns-Graham generates a series of Milkshake Cowgirls that depict fantasy women with the associated props of riding – helmets, jackets-sporting-logos, etc – in an exploration of women-as-object in this sector of popular culture. Milkshake Cowgirl was (anecdotally) a slang term for the women who rode motorcycles in the late 1950s and 1960s in Auckland’s K Rd area.