The Dirty Side of Glamour by Tyler Shields

The Dirty Side of Glamour by Tyler Shields

The Dirty Side of Glamour is one of Tyler Shield’s most well-known and controversial collections to date. It features models and celebrities engaging in vulgar acts of indulgence. From setting an $100,000 Birkin bag on fire to blood-soaked acts, the series captures a sickening duality of excess and depravity. The Dirty Side of Glamour by Tyler Shields was made into a photography book in 2013. Today, Shields reflects on the collection and the mixed reactions it invoked. Now with more experience, better equipment, and a less shockable audience, Shields returns to “the series that changed the game” and continues the collection.

About Tyler Shields:

Tyler Shields is photographer, film director, and writer, best known for his images of Hollywood celebrities. Born in Jacksonville, FL, Shields began his career as a professional inline skater, competing in the 1999 and 2000 X Games, and touring with Tony Hawk in 2003. He got his start as a photographer by releasing his images and videos on MySpace, and soon afterward, began doing gallery shows. Known for his controversial and violent images, and frequently drawing criticism from animal rights activists and women’s groups, his photographs capture much of the most over-the-top, brutal aspects of contemporary celebrity culture.

His work often involves images of violence and splattered blood. He collected blood from 20 celebrities to make a piece of art for his Life Is Not a Fairytale exhibit in Los Angeles and also photographed Lindsay Lohan as a vampire for that exhibit. Criticism: In 2010, Shields photographed actress Lindsay Lohan in studio portraits brandishing a gun. Shields also appeared to stage the “shooting” a partygoer with a gun that year at the release party for his book Collisions, as an appropriated piece of performance art en homage to the cans of Fluxus artist Piero Manzoni and in imitation of 70s Los Angeles performance artist John Duncan along with a student in the department of New Genres at UCLA in the 1990s (among others).