For his photo exhibition ‘Provocateur’ – currently on display at London art gallery Imitate Modern – American photographer and filmmaker Tyler Shields orchestrated a spectacular final bow for one of his main props: a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.
Tyler Shields is an American photographer and filmmaker who has sent a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow off to its final resting place in grand, fiery fashion. He didn’t do it Mythbusters-style, with just a whole bunch of explosives to obliterate the car, but with a guy in tux and a woman in a gown. This is, after all, a Rolls-Royce.
The whole thing is set out in the Mojave Desert with actor Cru Ennis as the James Bond-esque guy with a can of gasoline and actress Ana Mulvoy-Ten as Bond Girl dousing the car. It’s all beautifully filmed in high-definition with a slow-motion playback so you see the car flying to bits as it’s engulfed in flames.
As a few reports point out, the whole thing is both fascinating and a little infuriating because it does result in the complete destruction of a beautiful car. If you’re more angry than fascinated, you can take comfort in the fact that a boatload of these cars were made.
Between 1965 and 1980 there were over 30,000 of these produced. Sure, those aren’t the same kinds of numbers you’ll find on more mainstream cars, but it means there are still quite a few out there in good working condition that are in no danger of being blown to bits for our amusement.
The ‘Provocateur’ exhibition – which focuses on risqué images of intimacy and seduction – will run at Imitate Modern until 1 November 2014.