Editorial Statement
Dan Nelken’s Smash’em Crash’em portfolio catches the rough-and-tumble action of dozens of demolition derbies around New York State. There is noise and dust and mayhem here, of course, but also the intense concentration evident in Nelken’s portrait of a tightly wound competitor just before a heat. In one rowdy crowd scene the fans fill the frame with their shouts and gestures; only after careful looking does the viewer’s attention shift to the quiet figure in blue seated front and center. Another crowd scene, shot from above, is a composition perfectly balanced between the parallel waves of rapt spectators and battered fence and the curve of equally battered cars circling on the field.

In Dan Nelken’s statement about this body of work, he conveys the appeal of this singularly American entertainment: “The derby is a loud, preposterous assault on all the senses, yet families arrive with days-old infants in strollers, picnic blankets, and plates of food to consume through the oily smoke and deafening collisions. More than eight thousand of these derbies take place in the United States each year, many at local county fairs where tracks may hold several hundred people. Smash’em Crash’em is my attempt to capture the visceral quality of this sport as well as provide an understanding of the forces and desires of the men and women who participate.”

NG