HOTROD EMPIRE, INC.

Hotrod Empire Inc. - Photography by Dirk Behlau
128 pages, colour & b/w
Size: 28x20 cm, Landscape format, Hard-/Softcover
Language: English
ISBN: 978-3-927896-25-3
Released: December 2008
Publisher: Huber Verlag GmbH & Co. KG

Welcome to Hotrod Empire, Inc.! This volume of photography at hand is a portrait of the european old-school Hot Rod & Kustom Kulture scene. Besides Hot Rods & Kustoms, rockabilly-, rockabella- and rock´n´roller lifestyle takes center stage, because the old-school Hot-Rod scene consists of more than driving an old jalopy.

It´s the rock´n´roll spirit, the kick-ass punkrock, the psychobilly, it´s about freedom and fuck-off attitude. A bow to ancient times, linked with fun and melancholia, beautiful classic pin-ups instead of modern fashion victims and fading mayflies. That is what it´s all about.

More Books by Dirk Behlau:
Kool Fellas, Ltd. - Photography by Dirk Behlau 
(2010, Huber Verlag)
Hotrod Empire, Inc. - Photography by Dirk Behlau 
(2008, Huber Verlag)
Speed Kings - Racing Photography by Dirk Behlau 
(2007, Die Gestalten Verlag)
Inkarnation - Tattoo & Lifestyle 
(2012, Zeixs)

Co-Op books:
The Ride (2013, Die Gestalten Verlag)
Kustom Kamera (2010, Korero Books)
Old-school Motorcycles (2008, Huber Verlag)
Hardcore for Life (2008, Huber Verlag)
Cook Wildest (2010, Huber Verlag)

Reviews:
"The combination of hot rods, kustoms, and pin up models is sure a fine winner - afteral you are holding an issue of Garage in your hands, aren´t you? Well imaging a 128 page coffee table book of nothing but page after page of photos of that subject matter and each and every one is suitable for framing. We could only imagine the volume of photos that Dirk Behlau had to omit to shrink his selection down to fit inside this book. What we wouldn´t give to see the world through Dirk´s lens just for one day." Garage Magazine #19 (USA)

"A new masterpiece by Pixeleye himself" DRAGRACER Magazine #39 (Germany)

"Dirk Behlau, or Pixeleye, as his known to his friends and foes alike, is arguably Germany’s foremost photographer and documentarian of the local hot rod scene. [...] While all of the photography is first class, some of it is even more first class because it’s made to look like third-class snap shot art: coffee-stained, scratched up, scruffed up, seemingly out of focus, off-centered, greasesplattered pictures, all in an effort to lend age, use and authenticity to a genre that thrives on living in a greasy, rusty past. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words, Dirk’s slim little coffee table book is one enormous, wordy tome! RebelRodz Magazine #10 (USA)

"Behlau fängt eine einzigartige Welt in hochklassigen Bildern ein...Das Buch gehört in den Schrank jedes Rodders, aber auch jeder andere Benzinverrückte sollte dieses Stück Fotokunst gönnen" Read more... Autobild.de (Germany)

"The second photobook by Dirk Behlau is a must-have" Kinkats Magazine (Germany)

"Hot Rod Empire Inc. porträtiert sehr feinsinnig die hiesige Kustom Kultur: Hot Rods, Pin-Ups, Pinstriping, Tattoo. Dirk Behlau gelingt es dabei, die motorisierte Subkultur schnörkellos und authentisch abzubilden. Die Szene wird respektvoll porträtiert, nicht ausgestellt. Motorkultur.com (Germany)