On Friday, January 9, FLATFILEphotography will open 2004 with BORDERLANDS - IMAGES FROM BURNING MAN AND STURGIS, a show that captures the fringes of American society.

Chicago artists Justin Lundquist and Daniel Gerdes have wielded their large format cameras at the last several Burning Man Festivals in Nevada, trapping some of the tribal elements in the essence of the arts festival held annually since 1986 in Black Rock Desert. Burning Man features art exhibits, music, a cast of characters beyond anything Central Casting could put together, and culminates in the burning of a 40 foot high figure of a man. Lundquist and Gerdes’ Avedon-esque black and white portraits are minimally composed and stunningly rendered.

New York photographer Monika Merva, who recently won first place in the Finch Paper Competition, and has been featured in a variety of magazines and books internationally over the last year, has documented, in candid portrait style, the bikers of Sturgis, the South Dakota motorcycle gathering as well as the Black Biker’s Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. In color and black and white, or in Merva’s limited edition portfolio, an embossed leather-bound book entitled STURGIS, these are characters to be reckoned with. Often dressed in little more than tattoos, they stare at the camera or at one another with an unassuming nonchalance that belies their extreme interest in presenting themselves in the way they hope to be perceived.

In the project room, the roar of motorcycles will surround the viewer who has the time or inclination to sit awhile and watch Easy Rider, Electra Glide in Blue, or The Wild One.