Some of you may have heard me mention that I am the founder, curator, chief cook and bottle-washer of a little thing I like to call MMMoMMA. New York City has MOMA, aka the Museum of Modern Art, and Central Texas has MMMoMMA, aka My Miniature Museum of Modern Motorcycle Art. 😎

One of my favorite tasks at MMMoMMA is spotting those excellent artists who capture our lives and lifestyle (and motorcycles) in their chosen media, be it painting, photography, sculpture, film….

….and an artist I spotted a while back is one Lyndell Dean Wolff, a California-based artist who has done some incredible work in that field.

What first caught my eye, naturally, was his series of paintings inspired by Bill Ray’s famous 1965 photographs* of the Hells Angels and other California MCs, like Beautiful Buzzard of Berdoo, seen above. Others in the series include Tickle It, Bakersfield Run and Berdoo Salute.

However, Lyndell isn’t confined to just reimagining Ray’s iconic photographs. He has another series of works — a near-to-photorealist collection titled Wabi-Sabi — that feature historic motorcycles in OEM and custom trim.

One of my personal favorites is Lyndell’s portrait of this motorcycle queen, a shovel rider from Japan whose photos appear regularly across the interwebs. I don’t know her name, but I admire any woman who rides her own, and especially a rigid kickstart-only shovelhead like hers.

Outside the Wabi-Sabi and Bill Ray collections, Lyndell creates some brilliant images of vintage motorcycles like these:

Lyndell also honors legends of the motorcycling world, including Burt Munro of The World’s Fastest Indian fame, and the godfather of motorcycle art, David Mann himself.

However, if you visit Lyndell’s gallery, or his website, you will see that he is not limited, any more than David Mann was, to ‘just’ motorcycle-themed art. Lyndell is truly a fine artist in every sense of those words, accomplished and acknowledged, endowed with wide-ranging vision, and possessed of a keen eye for dramatic vignettes and an exquisite hand for detail.

For instance, his series titled ‘Cognitive Phenomenology‘ (seen above and below) is a brilliant exploration of human form and cityscape, reflection, light and shadow. The works bring to mind one of my personal faves, Edward Hopper, and yet frequently surpass Hopper in depth and emotion. Those who know my love for Hopper are probably shocked to see me write that, but it’s true.

What can I say? 🤷🏻‍♀️ I calls ’em as I sees ’em! 😏

He has other works, as well. Here is one I love, that appears to be an homage to American artist-cartoonist Robt. Williams. Part of the draw for me may be that Lyndell here reimagines traditional representations of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Jackie and I were married at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church here in Austin, and the lay ministry we were involved in at the church featured Our Lady in much of its iconography.

I’ve been saving my milk money for a while now, hoping to acquire one of Lyndell’s paintings for MMMoMMA, but in the meanwhile we’ve struck up a friendship, and just today he did me the incredible honor of releasing his newest work, entitled “’87 Sturgis Run” (16×20 inch, acrylic on panel). Some of you may recognize that handsome devil standing beside his trusty shovelhead, with the stone faces of Mount Rushmore peering over his shoulder.

That handsome devil is none other than your humble narrator….

….although it’s damned hard to be humble when a talented artist like Lyndell Dean Wolff makes your mug the subject of a painting! 😎 

This painting is based on one of my favorite photographs. Every time I see it, I am reminded of the young man I was, and the adventures I had on my beloved shovelhead. I might not be smiling in the photo, but you can bet your bottom dollar I was one happy biker!

Lyndell has been invited to exhibit at the David Mann Memorial Chopperfest Motorcycle, Art and Kulture Show taking place next weekend, February 11^th, on the beach at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.  He has been a featured artist at this prestigious event for several years running, and his latest paintings, including “Bakersfield Run”, “Berdoo Salute” and “’87 Sturgis Run”, will be on display.

Lyndell has also been invited (again!) to contribute a custom painted helmet to the Biltwell Helmet Show, which is a regular part of Chopperfest. His helmet and paintings will be available for sale on-site.

I am very proud of my friend, Lyndell Dean Wolff, and sincerely hope you will check out his work, either online or in person at Chopperfest. Better yet, take a piece home. I know I’m dying to! 👍🏼

JUST FYI:

*Bill Ray, mentioned above, was on assignment from LIFE Magazine in 1965, in response to the spate of news reports about the Angels and other ‘outlaw’ clubs. His photographs were ultimately rejected for publication at the time. The editors wanted visual reinforcement of the stereotypical larger-than-life ‘biker thug’ that pearl-clutching news reports were describing. Bill Ray disappointed them when he handed in images of everyday women and men on motorcycles, enjoying their lives. His iconic photographs showed the bikers in too good a light. 😎

However, for modern readers and historians, Ray’s 2019 book, ‘Hells Angels of San Berdoo ’65: Inside the Mother Charter‘, presents a mind-blowing visual record of the outlaw scene of the day. If you’re into our history as bikers, it’s as important a piece as Danny Lyon’s ‘The Bikeriders‘ or Hunter S. Thompson’s seminal work of gonzo journalism, ‘Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs‘.

In fact, Thompson mentions Bill Ray in his book, jealous of the fact that Ray was more accepted by the club than Thompson himself. 😆

Ray’s book is available online, and well worth the price, IMO.