DANNY LYON: THE BIKERIDERS

DANNY LYON, ZIPCO, ELKHORN, WISCONSIN, 1966

Robert Klein Gallery
38 Newbury St.
Boston

JUNE 28 - AUGUST 31, 2024

The exhibition of approximately 40 original photographs from the series will be presented in conjunction with the June 2024 release of the Focus Features film, The Bikeriders, written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Inspired by Lyon’s book of the same name, this fictional account traces the history of a club of motorcycle enthusiasts called the Vandals as it devolves into a sinister gang of thugs and murderers. The film stars Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, and Mike Faist as Danny Lyon. The characters and the narrative are taken from Lyons pictorial account and audio recordings of his time as a member of the club.

THE BIKERIDERS explores Lyon’s experience as a member of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club from 1963-1967. Lyon began riding with and documenting the Outlaws at twenty-one years old while an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago. The publication of his seminal book The Bikeriders (1968) introduced a style of documentary photography and reporting that placed him in the forefront of the New Journalism movement in which the photographer is immersed in and participating with the subject being documented. His work tells the story of a subversive motorcycle club and endures as a time capsule of 1960s Americana. His form of New Journalism with its intimacy, transparency, and humanism was radical.

more here: Robert Klein