American Biker
"American Biker" is a series of oil on canvas paintings, ranging from 18" x 24" to 24" x 48", that focus on capturing real, unscripted and unstaged emotions associated with biker subculture.
I have been riding motorcycles since I was sixteen years old. In preparation for this series I travelled across the United States on my 2003 Harley Davidson V-Rod for over a year, collecting reference images with my digital still camera and bike mounted video camera. I have changed my appearance over the period of this project, growing long hair and a beard in order to better blend into the environment I was trying to portrait. This series also includes my self-portraits.
My process involves taking photos and videos of people on the road, in the garage, in the bar, at the gas station, etc. I was also taking additional, detailed reference photos to develop the composition of a painting, including images of outdoor and indoor environments, people, and any additional subjects that I could use in the composition. However, each work in the series always started from a single, strong photo reference capturing an emotion. This could be the focus and concentration of the mechanic working on a bike's engine in the garage, or a pure joy of the ride reflected in the facial expression of the biker leaning into a sharp curve captured with telephoto-lens.
This project gave me an opportunity to combine my two big passions - the passion for motorcycles and the passion for painting. I hope these paintings succeed in capturing not only the spirit of the people I met in connection of working on this series, but also the beauty of motorcycle riding.
Maciej Mike Maciesowicz