A selection of 25 prints by the Californian photographer and filmmaker Tyler Shields is being offered online through Sotheby’s until 12 March 2021, in a sale titled Tyler Shields: Dreaming Awake. The auction is presented in collaboration with London gallery Imitate Modern.
Shields began his career as a professional in-line skater, competing in the X-Games and winning a world championship, before directing music videos and turning to photography. His early work documenting young Los Angeles celebrity, including a shoot with Lindsay Lohan and images of Emma Roberts, drew wide attention, and he has since photographed figures from Bruce Willis to Elon Musk.
His work draws on notions of the gaze, power, hyper-realism and cinematography, and touches on themes of eroticism, violence, fantasy and consumerism. Shields cites photographers such as Irving Penn and Helmut Newton, alongside filmmakers Paul Thomas Anderson and Alfred Hitchcock, as influences on his approach to portraiture.
The sale spans his portfolio from 2012 to the present, beginning with early works such as Glitter Mouth, Birkin Tug of War, Gator Birkin and Mouth Drip. It also includes Rolls Royce on Fire (2014), Prada Popcorn (2014), The Swans (2015) and Under the Rain (2018).
Several works were made during the pandemic. Using older cameras recovered during lockdown, including a 35mm camera gifted to him by Clint Eastwood, Shields produced Chanel Silhouette (2021), his first exploration of silhouettes, and Chateau Marmont (2020), which shows the Hollywood hotel deserted during its closure.
(Press Release)
