The White Elephant Saloon
Fort Worth, Texas – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“It’s a tough one, as there are so many contenders in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Texas. From a filming perspective, we are drawn to bars with depth and then it helps if the walls and ceilings are elaborately embroidered with authentic props that emphatically play to a western vibe. They need to have history and a lore.
But these are not really demanding qualification rules, and we need some stronger filters. For a start, we think that the saloon must have hard liquor available at breakfast and the bar staff should greet early customers with a smile that suggests a sense of partnership throughout the day.
The door policy should be accommodating to men with no cultural refinement and women with no moral compass and allow cowboy capitalists to mingle freely with outlaws, cattle wranglers and enthusiastic pole dancers. The only real restriction, is that entry is conditional on wearing a decent and well worn cowboy hat.
I think, however, the best cowboy bars must be in towns that are fabled cattle towns. If there is not a hint of manure in the air, at the very least, there should be some steers within a rope’s throw of the entrance. It would also help these days if Taylor Sheridan is a regular.
These new criteria materially narrow down the candidates and all roads now lead to Fort Worth, Texas. Our favourite cowboy bar is, of course, The White Elephant in the heart of the famous old stock yards.
We want to thank Tim Love and his excellent team for partnering with us on this project, and we look forward to visiting next time as customers. My team will all pass the door policy.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 83” in (142.2 cm x 210.8 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 98” in (180.3 cm x 248.9 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 55” in (93.98 cm x 139.7 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 70” in (132.1 cm x 200.7 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Telluride
Telluride, Colorado – 2023
Archival Pigment Print
“Norman Parkinson’s photographs of his soon to be wife at an airfield in Nairobi, Kenya in 1951 have stood the test of time and certainly form part of the history of fashion photography. He was one of the original storytellers in his craft.
We brought this 1943 plane into Telluride, Colorado with a view to telling new stories and, like Parkinson some 70 years ago, I wanted to play on the alchemy of metallic beauty and female beauty.
The plane – which participated in D Day in 1944 before it was converted to a DC3 – looked striking at 9,000 feet and the cold winter light allowed its beauty to be fully celebrated. The pilot positioned the plane at an angle to allow me to have a definitive sense of place. There are few airfields in the world as breath-taking as Telluride, which was, of course, the reason we were there. There is a grandeur in the San Juan mountains that I have long been drawn to.
Glamour came late to Telluride: it was only developed as a ski resort in the 1970s and even then, it was proud of being Colorado’s best kept secret. But a hipster counterculture took root and Telluride morphed sharply from a tough mining town to a resort whose mere name evokes imagery of sex, drugs and rock and roll. It was quite some transition and Telluride became in vogue for Angelenos. The bond is now cemented and the town’s annual film festival highlights Hollywood’s 50- year love affair with the community.
Josie Canseco, my model for that cold morning, was made for the role of the bohemian Telluride party girl. I am not sure what’s in her suitcase, but I am sure she was ready for some fun in the mountains.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 50” x 102” in (127 cm x 259.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 65” x 117” in (165.1 cm x 297.2 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 34” x 69” in (86.36 cm x 175.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 49” x 84” in (124.5 cm x 213.4 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Pappy + Harriet's
Pioneertown, California – 2024
“There are few bars in the world that truly justify being labelled as cultural institutions: especially if they are marooned in a dusty, windy desert. But Pappy + Harriet’s, which has been hosting world class musicians in quirky Pioneertown on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park in California, can legitimately be tagged in that manner. Pioneertown is essentially a fake 1880s frontier town, but it is about as real as fake towns go.
Founded in 1982, Pappy + Harriet’s has hosted many celebrated music acts taking time out from nearby music festivals such as Coachella and Stagecoach. Some are coming to simply chill and catch the vibe, but that vibe can then be so seductive that they end up performing impromptu on stage: McCartney, Sting, Robert Plant and Patti Smith have played here, along with rock bands such as the Arctic Monkeys and the Dead Kennedys.
The crowd is a magical cocktail of cowboys, bikers, old-timers, creative artists and musicians and it is this assembly that has elevated a dusty old roadhouse into a joint whose status is secure. There is nowhere quite like it and it is a known destination.
On the day I was shooting in Pioneertown, I happened to be speaking to an old friend who is the President of Live Nation’s European division and when he found out where I was, his voice was excited as if I was on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Much of the credit for the continued allure of this famed honky tonk must, of course, go to the founders – Harriet and her husband Claude “Pappy” Allen. He passed in 1994, but his keen artistic eye still stamps its authority on the interior details of the bar. That was important to convey in this image. After Pappy’s passing, the ownership changed hands a few times and now operates under the loving care of “J.B.” Moresco and Lisa Elin. I want to thank them for their kindness on the day of this crazy shoot. The joint is in good hands for another generation of lovers of life”. – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56" x 99” in (142.2 cm x 251.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 99" x 114” in (251.5 cm x 289.6 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 65” in (93.98 cm x 165.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 80” (132.1 cm x 203.2 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Kemo Sabe
Aspen, Colorado – 2023
“There are only a few boutique stores globally that can lay claim to the cache and celebrity draw of Kemo Sabe in Aspen. It is as integral to the fabric of the world’s most celebrated ski resort as the leading hotels and restaurants and it attracts hundreds of adoring visitors every day. Kemo Sabe has a cult following which must give every small shop owner both hope and inspiration. It is a destination in itself.
There is a unique vibe to the place, created by the energy and warmth of the staff, the smell of the leather, the country music and the human traffic moving excitedly back and forth from the bar upstairs. It is more of a Soho House in the mountains than it is a hat and belt retailer.
There is an intoxicating glamour to Kemo Sabe and it felt appropriate to film two well-known North American models – Josie Canseco and Kate Bock – at the front of the store one snowy Saturday morning. Both Josie and Kate are established customers of the shop anyway, so nothing felt contrived.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 54” x 103” in (137.2 cm x 261.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 69” x 118” in (175.3 cm x 299.7 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 70” in (93.98 cm x 177.8 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 85” in (132.1 cm x 215.9 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Xanadu
Aspen, Colorado – 2023
There is no doubt that Aspen is the most notorious, scandal ridden ski resort in the world. Its mere name evokes imagery of heavy partying, glamour and celebrities, which is a little unfair on all those that go up the hill from Glenwood Springs simply to ski. Good things have happened in the town, but so have many bad things, which makes it delicious material for the Storyteller.
70 years after the silver market burst at the turn of the century, Aspen boomed bigger and louder than it ever had before. It was a freewheeling bohemian paradise with rock and roll as important to its very essence as skiing itself. The question was not as much which area to ski, but whether to hang with The Eagles, John Denver or Jimmy Buffett.
By the early 70s The J Bar at the storied Jerome Hotel was firmly established as a drinking venue and I have heard stories of bartenders turning a blind eye to high profile figures brazenly doing lines of coke off the counter in broad daylight. It was in keeping with the vibe of the era that Hunter Thompson ran for sheriff and was taken seriously. The rich and famous ran amok in Aspen.
I desperately wanted to take a photograph in a prominent place in Aspen that looked as if it had been taken in the hipster days of the early 70s. The car was sourced by connected locals and Nicole Allowitz’s styling of Kate Bock and Josie Canseco was – as always – on point. But I needed a little more and the heavy snowfall give me the chance to make the background timeless.
This could be 1973 and what a time everyone must have had, if only they could remember.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 73” in (142.2 cm x 185.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 88” in (180.3 cm x 223.5 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 48” in (93.98 cm x 121.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 63” in (132.1 cm x 160 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
GONDOLA
Aspen, Colorado – 2023
The 15-minute gondola ride up from heart of Aspen to the Sundeck restaurant at the peak of Aspen Mountain offers many an opportunity to look back down at the celebrated old mining town below. We had Victoria’s Secret model Josie Canseco in town for a shoot and we wondered whether we could work a picture from inside one of the gondola cars. It was always going to be tight, but we had some decent wide-angle lenses with us.
My plan was to be playful and the ski goggled service dog was a useful extra. (Only service dogs are allowed up the mountain in the winter). I knew most of the images would not work but we were only really looking for one with the model and dog in unity and the signage on the gondolas going down the mountain pinpointing our exact location.
Josie is a mainstay for us as we travel across America. She is up for most ideas and importantly gets on well with all our crew. The camera, of course, also loves her, as shown by this photograph at 11,000 ft up above the most famous ski resort in the world.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 95” in (142.2 cm x 241.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 110” in (180.3 cm x 279.4 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 63” in (93.98 cm x 160 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 78” in (132.1 cm x 198.1 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
I’m Not Fxxxing Leaving (Colour)
I’m Not Fxxxing Leaving (Colour)
Los Angeles, California – 2022
“Over the last three years, we have undertaken two different homages to Martin Scorsese’s wonderful black comedy – The Wolf of Wall Street and on both occasions worked with the real wolf, Jordan Belfort. Pleasingly they have been hugely popular pieces.
In 2022, we returned to a dealing room to film the most challenging of the ideas; the “I am Not Fxxxking Leaving” scene. The concept was clear in my head, but I was wrestling with the execution, as, in a still image, it is impossible to have both the speaker and the crowd facing the camera. The idea of the back of Jordan’s head being at the front of the frame had no appeal, meanwhile excluding him from the picture altogether would weaken the narrative.
But the crowd was simple to preconceive; an energy charged orgy of 1994 brokers celebrating the defiance of their leader. I wanted explicit references to the excesses of the era and the film and this demanded a testosterone jammed dealing floor hosting flying dollars, ticker tape, rubber dolls, call girls and marching bands. I always think that it is counter intuitive to downplay parody. We even managed to sneak in a Steve Madden shoe box.
The trick with Jordan was to have him on a big TV screen facing the same way as everyone else, this way the full story could be told without valuable inches being occupied by the back of Belfort’s head. The ticker on CNBC reminds us how much the DOW has risen since those crazy days of Stratton Oakmont.
I want to thank Josh and Matt Altman and their team from The Altman Brothers for fully embracing their roles as extras. They brought exactly the energy that was needed that morning. Everyone had to play their role to perfection, otherwise the vibe was lost.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of Edition size: 12 + 3 AP:
- Image Size: 47” x 102" in (119.38 cm x 259.08 cm)
- Framed Size: 62” x 117” in (157.48 x 297.18 cm)
STANDARD - Edition of 12 + 3 AP:
- Image Size: 35” x 77" in (88.9 cm x 195.58 cm)
- Framed Size: 50” x 92" in (127 cm x 233.68 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Flight
Los Angeles, 2022
“Private jets are mainstream in 2022. In celebrated American resort des- tinations such as Aspen, they can outnumber grounded commercial aircrafts 20 to 1. Flying privately makes travel comfortable and appeals to those long of cash and short of time, but to film in a private jet and merely tell a story of luxury, has always struck me as banal and creatively stiff.
Instead, I wanted to use the tube of a private jet to tell a story of excess and bad behaviour; if jets are private, then by definition anything is permissible and the word PJ can elicit imagery of sex, drugs and rock and roll. It is not, of course, a linear relationship and most passengers on private jets are model citizens simply travelling in the most perfunctory of ways from A to B. But in the art world, I feel no need to play to percentages. I would rather have some fun and tell some stories.
My focus was the PJ journeys that get out of hand.
The real ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ – Jordan Belfort – was not shy of excess and I persuaded him that we could build a frame around some of the infamous moments from the movie and host that aggregation in a PJ. I knew that we needed an emphatic reference to the film over and above Jordan and a wolf – and the dollar bill mule girl was core to my intended vibe.
Many will remember the scene when the Wolf of Wall Street woke from a drug fueled flight to find himself tied to his seat by a number of seat belts. It was a novel storyline and wonderful black comedy. My sense was we could merge this vignette with the dollar mule girl and build from there.
Holly Graves and Josie Canseco both played their roles on the plane as well as I could have asked, especially given the amount of fun everyone was having. (Holly as the money mule and Josie as the pantomime stewardess). I recognize that it is tough to play “bad ass” when everyone else on the plane is trying not to laugh.
I hope this photograph finds itself on the walls of a few private jets; we all know it depicts a flight that none of us will ever take.”
-David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 92" in (142.24 cm x 233.68 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 107” in (180.34 cm x 271.78 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 61" in (93.98 cm x 154.94 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 76" in (132.08 cm x 193.04 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your artwork. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Well, I’m A-Standin' on a Corner in Winslow, Arizona
Winslow, Arizona – 2022
“Well, I’m a-standin’ on a corner In Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord,
In a flat-bed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me
These famous lyrics from The Eagles 1972 smash hit “Take It Easy” are sung every day of every year in bars throughout America. Winslow should not be on any map, never mind in someone’s head, but then the Eagles came along and secured this unremarkable town’s fame.
For some months I had laboured over how best to tell this story. Google has changed all our lives, but I still think there is no replacement for a site vis- it. And so, with no crew or cameras, I found myself on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and just looked and looked.
The commemorative statues and the facade with the flatbed Ford offered a good backdrop to which I could add many more men standing in that corner. The sense of place could be a blurred merger of the facade and then my extras. The facade is so good; I particularly liked the couple making out through the upstairs window.
The truth is that the sassy girl in the car was just a little too good for the adoring men of Winslow. It was a fine sight to see, but that was where the story ended. Everyone was standing that day – including the girl and her unlikely passenger.
Take it easy.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 56” x 94" in (142.24 cm x 238.76 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 109” in (180.34 cm x 276.86 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 37” x 62" (93.98 cm x 157.48 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 77" (132.08 cm x 195.58 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your artwork. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Route 66
Arizona, USA – 2022
“Route 66 – The Mother Road – will al- ways be a symbol of America’s post war freedom and geographical mo- bility. It evokes imagery of roadside motels, diners and 1950s Cadillacs. America is the home of the road trip and Route 66 is its poster child.
Much of the road that ran from Santa Monica through California, Arizona, New Mexico and then north to Chicago has either disappeared or been supplanted by interstate highways, but good sections of it do remain, as do the towns that grew up servicing the needs of those on the road.
In the autumn of 2022, I scouted for shooting locations in California and Arizona that would emphatically offer a Route 66 vibe and I found it to be a challenge. So many of the motels and diners along the route are either abandoned or worse still have become rather kitsch tourist at- tractions. To find a set that was both authentic and operational seemed mutually exclusive.
But then I stumbled across the town of Holbrook – 100 miles east of Flag- staff in Arizona. There are some real gems in this small town and none more so than the Wigwam Motel that saddles up right next to Route 66.
We went to see the owner – a charming man called Clifton Lewis – and he agreed to allow us to film in the courtyard outside the reception. It was ideal for what we were looking for.
The Wigwam Motel is still operation- al and was fully occupied the night of the shoot, so some of us stayed in a properly rundown motel around the corner. My room rate was $56 which I felt was perhaps $50 too expensive. But it was all so worth it. Holbrook is as good a canvas on which to tell a Route 66 story as I know; to drive through sections of the old town is to go back 60 years.
I chose Josie Canseco as the lead on this project as I knew she could wear a glamorous 1950s vibe very well. I was right and this photograph is as good as I could have imagined when I started exploring the creative concept.
Have you slept in a Wigwam lately?”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 56” x 74" (142.24 cm x 187.96 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 89” (180.34 cm x 226.06 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 37” x 49" (93.98 cm x 124.46 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 64” (132.08 cm x 162.56 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your artwork. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.