bells+whistles
arts & culture
blooming Bike Planter
Look Who Rides A Bike
writer: Bryna Hallam
writer: Geoffrey Earl
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Louise Allbritton during the filming of San Diego, I Love You in 1944. Shirley Temple, seen shortly after her first cycling lesson, riding on a street in Palm Springs, CA, 1936. William Holden outside the Paramount Pictures Studio, circa 1954.
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See who else Rides A Bike at ridesabike.tumblr.com May>jun>11
Photo by Bernard Klevickas
Look Who Rides A Bike
t’s difficult to explain the popularity of Louise Allbritton Rides A Bike, a single-serve site featuring only black-and-white photographs of movie stars riding bicycles, the captions a variation of the actor’s name and “rides a bike.” Since the site launched in November 2010, thousands have scrolled through the promotional stills and candid shots of Rita Hayworth on a beach cruiser, Errol Flynn on a track bike and Humphrey Bogart speeding through a studio back-lot, one hand hanging casually in his pocket, with the calm and confident ...thousands have scrolled expression of an everyday cyclist. through the promotional stills “Rides A Bike combines two and candid shots of Rita of my passions in life: movies Hayworth on a beach cruiser, and bikes,” said the site’s curator, Steven Rea. Errol Flynn on a track bike, and Rea, a longtime film critic Humphrey Bogart... for the Philadelphia Enquirer, is also a daily commuter, pedaling around town on a 1970s Raleigh DL-1, the 28-inch-wheel, rod brake “postman’s bike.” After quietly collecting stars-on-bikes photos for several years, “but not with any purpose in mind,” Rea launched Rides A Bike without much expectation. “The response was … pretty remarkable,” he said. The site currently has more than 2,000 followers. Its photos have earned almost 4,500 “likes” on Facebook and received praise on numerous cycling, movie and fashion websites. A book may be on the horizon, too. With two or three pictures posted each week, Shirley Temple Rea is always searching for new material. He scours eBay and Google Image, peruses New York memorabilia shops and, increasingly, receives photos from fans. His current mustfind: a photo from Saturday Night and Sunday Morning of Albert Finney riding a 1950s Raleigh Lenton (that’s a hint, folks). Rea’s long list of favorites include one of Gene Tierney with her dog; Marlene Dietrich “in that impossible outfit” from The Spoilers and a revealing shot of Geneviève Bujold from the obscure King of Hearts – with more than 750 notes, it’s also the site’s most talkedabout image. “There are some true fans of the movie – it’s a cult classic – but I think mostly there are other reasons for its popularity, if you get my drift.” William Holden
The Bike Planter as a guerrilla art installation outside the New Museum in New York, NY, March 2011.
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hen Bernard Klevickas wanted to bring awareness to two of his passions – cycling and gardening – he turned to his third one: art. The Long Island City-based artist said he wanted “to create an unusual experience; to make something that is different from the same stuff we pass by and see every day; to elicit consternation” with the piece – a bike frame that spirals up poles and sprouts flowers from its handlebars Klevickas, whose background in sculpture focused specifically on metal fabrication, fashioned the guerrilla piece – it popped up in two locations in March – from abandoned bicycles he found in New York. “I like that it takes a common object and alters it,” he said of the Twisted Bicycle Planter. “I feel that I am taking excess material and making something interesting to look at. It can bring an awareness to bicycling, even if it’s with a touch of dark humor; and, it is a way to place more flowers in the city.” You can see more of Klevickas’ art at bernardklevickas.com
want more?
Check out momentumplanet.com/ arts-and-culture for more articles and interviews with the artists featured here. M om e n t u m p l a n e t. c om