.jpg) By Jeremy Azevedo | When most people think of Harley Davidson, one of the first things that probably come to mind is the Hell’s Angels. |
Some ZZ Top lookin' Angel by Shawn Barber
Nowadays, those Easy Riders are the stuff of legends, and you’re more likely to see your dad riding around on a Harley than you are to ride one yourself. It is generally agreed upon that in the last decade or more, there has been a disconnect between the kind of person that the iconic motorcycle appeals to, and the kind of person that can actually afford one. The question, then, is how will Harley Davidson turn this perception around for future generations?
I got my answer at Harley Davidson’s “Art of Rebellion” event, in which eleven of the most relevant young artists in the US were showing off one of a kind, custom painted gas tanks inspired by the spirit of youthful rebellion that Harley Davidson was founded upon. The artwork was intended to promote Harley’s newest bike in their “Dark Custom” line, the “Iron 883”. At the end of the show, the original gas tanks were auctioned off, with the proceeds going to “Art Matters”, a foundation that helps young artists to realize the experimental and socially motivated works of art that they might otherwise be financially unable to produce on their own.
Show flier by Shepard Fairy
This event was interesting for two reasons: One, the artists that were in attendance are some of the most influential and controversial artists currently active in the underground art community. Harley Davidson had obviously done their homework. Secondly, the bike they were promoting retails for less than eight grand, making it affordable enough even for hack writers like myself to consider buying. And for the thought to even cross my mind is notable, because I generally wouldn’t consider myself a motorcycle rider and also because I am a cheap bastard.
The Iron 883: DO WANT
While I realize that I’m probably sounding a bit like a commercial here, the idea of cruising around on a Harley Davidson motorcycle with a custom paint job by Shepard Fairy appeals to me in a way makes it difficult to be impartial. In a time when Classic American companies are folding like origami swans, and even Budweiser has been sold off to the Belgians, I want to see Harley Davidson succeed. Anyway, in order to better understand this startling marriage of forward-thinking and nostalgia, I asked some of the artists in attendance what they thought the social significance of their involvement with the Iron 883 was.
First I spoke with Alex Pardee, who is one of my personal favorite pop artist/fine artists, well known for his illustrations that combine dark themes with strangely congruent, colorful elements.
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Alex Pardee
Alex Pardee: “To me it was a little shocking, my involvement. Harley Davidson has always been so iconic, graphically. To actually bring this other art world to it and apply it… One of the things that I’ve always thought was really cool about Harley Davidson is the level of customization of everything. Like, you can just go nuts and make everything completely personal. So for me, this just ads another layer of customization, it’s cool to be a part of it. I don’t know anyone who really isn’t aware of Harley Davidson and doesn’t already think it’s cool as it is. But I definitely think this will appeal to a slightly different crowd.”
The next artist I spoke with was Shawn Barber, perhaps best known for his amazingly life-like portraits of tattooed subjects that contain one art form within another.
Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber: “What young people are looking at today is relevant towards what Harley is trying to do. I think this will bring some excitement, maybe, making more people open to riding something that has an American feel to it. I’m an oil painter, so the difficulty was getting the pigment to stick to the surface. It took awhile to figure that out. My idea was to express the feeling of speed, my own arms holding on to it…
Me: “It reminds me of that scene in Nightmare on Elm Street 4, where the boyfriend of the main chick falls asleep and becomes a part of his motorcycle, before Freddy Kruger smashes it into a gas truck or something. Have you seen that movie?”
Shawn Barber: “Ha ha, I don’t know if I have…”
Me: “Well, you should Netflix it.”
Bob Dob is an artist that has a real Americana feel to his work, with a modern take on the 50s vibe of surf culture, car culture etc. So he was obviously a good fit for this event. I also asked him what he thought about the significance of his involvement with the show.
Bob Dob: I think Harley kind of fits into the narrative storytelling that artists kind of use in their work. And you always see custom bike tanks that artists design on, so that’s what automatically came to mind when they asked me to do this. It all fits in, the car culture, motorcycles, surfing, anything. It all ties in to the art community somehow.
Me: “Do you think motorcycle culture will ever have the kind of impact that it did on people in the 60s, or capture people’s imagination in that way?
Bob Dob: “Everything always repeats itself. I don’t know how it will, but you eventually see it all come back into popular culture. I don’t know if the whole rebellious aspect will be as significant. In the 60s you had Easy Rider and the whole motorcycle movie thing. That’s what seemed to stop for awhile.”
Me: “You know why I think that is? After the Hells Angles more or less fell out of favor, we sort of came to look at second/third generation celebrities as the standard-bearers for freedom and fuck-you attitude.
Bob Dob: “How so?”
Me: “They don’t have any responsibilities. They’re free to do whatever they want, and they don’t answer to anyone. They’re above the law, and they live on, like, a steady diet of sex and drugs and shitty music.
Bod Dob: “Hmm… I guess I could see that maybe.”
Me: “When Paris Hilton and like, Brody Jenner start riding Harleys, then we’ll really have something.”
Bob Dob: “Ha, I don’t know about that…”
Paul James
Paul James, Director of Product Communication for Harley-Davidson summed up the event thusly: “You look back at the guys that were coming back from WWII, they had experienced horrors but they had also experienced adrenaline. They were looking to reconnect with that excitement, to get that back in their lives again. They were familiar with the bikes and they got into motorcycling, stripping the non-essential parts… That’s where the term “chopper” comes from. Every generation has sort of found themselves in Harley Davidson in ways that are authentic to them… particularly in regards to self-expression and rebellion… but maybe have seen it as something aspirational. We’re trying to showcase these aspects for a younger generation in ways that are relevant to today’s young adults, in ways that matter to them. And with a new motorcycle that’s under ten thousand… under eight thousand dollars really, the barrier for entry is not higher than your average young person can afford.
Check out a video of the new Iron 883 and some pics from the event here:
Official Iron 883 video by Harley Davidson
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