©Stig De Block I CHR7 – 1 Palm, Montebello Park, CA, 2023 I Courtesy Gallery FIFTY ONE I LR
Discovered by the team atAcumen At Paris Photo 2025, Stig de Block's work struck us with its vibrancy and his way of sculpting light. His images, wrested from the scorching asphalt of Los Angeles, blend sharp shadows, saturated colors and fleeting silhouettes, immersed in the world of legendary cars. lowridersHe does not merely document this culture: he traverses it, absorbs it, transforms it into a visual language where identities, movements, resistance and beauty intersect.
©Stig De Block I Star Gazing, Inner Empire, CA, USA, 2023 I Courtesy Gallery FIFTY ONE
Born in 1990 in Belgium and based in Antwerp, Stig de Block's photography is deeply rooted in cultural codes and what he calls "heritage values." Yet, his vision is strikingly contemporary. Because he rejects distance. Because he gets as close as possible, even merging into this community of enthusiasts who, since the 1950s, have made photography their own. lowrider – a car with modified suspension, with an ostentatious and personalized aesthetic – much more than an object: a ritual, a statement, a place of belonging.
With Back to Back – From Backyard to BoulevardDe Block, a project begun in 2018 and still ongoing, reveals the complexity of a culture born in the Mexican neighborhoods of Los Angeles before being adopted, reinvented, and shaped by the African American scene, then disseminated throughout the western United States. For Stig de Block, the movement of lowriders is a true writing of movement. The cars tilt, rise, vibrate, and these gestures become so many visual rhythms that he captures in the brilliance of a light or the tension of a shadow. The hopping, This spectacular bouncing, linked to the specific suspension system, ceases to be a simple technical feat to become a moment where culture is revealed, carried by the very momentum of bodies and machines.
What the photographer captures is not just the feat itself, but everything surrounding it: the sensual slowness of a door opening, the tension of a cast shadow, a face absorbed in the interior, a hand hanging from the window, skin pierced by a golden glow… Some images are almost abstract, as if the lines of a car body were enough to tell the story of a life. Other shots reveal the discreet presence of children, sitting in the back of the vehicles, already carrying the dream within them. lowrider.
©Stig De Block IB, Compton, California, USA, 2018 I Courtesy Gallery FIFTY ONE
The street scenes – Watts, Compton, Long Beach, Sylmar, SF Valley – compose an intimate geography, far removed from clichés. Stig de Block shows us a social fabric being rebuilt around polished chrome. The "Sunday Fun Days," these weekly gatherings, embody this social role: a neutral space between rival gangs, a place for discussion, a platform for peace, mutual aid, and celebration. lowriders They become urban mediators, tools of informal diplomacy, as much as rolling creations.
This communal dimension is amplified by the extreme attention to detail. The faces of Tupac Shakur or Nate Dogg intertwined in colorful tribal patterns, the hyperrealistic paintings, the reflections in the windows, the acid green or incandescent orange of the car bodies: everything contributes to a flamboyant aesthetic where each car becomes a collective self-portrait. De Block often uses tight framing, immersing the viewer in a tactile relationship with the material. This choice formalizes a sense of intimacy: we are not observing the culture. lowrider, We are there. We slip in through the half-open window, we linger at the turn of a garage, we perceive the music, the vibrations, the conversations.
The photographer's work, exhibited at venues including Art Basel Miami, Photo London, the Rencontres d'Arles, and Le 109 in Nice, unfolds a narrative that transcends mere reportage. De Block orchestrates a vision where reality and imagination overlap. His photography, influenced by fashion and urban culture, exalts an explicit, direct, sometimes audacious, but always profoundly human beauty.
At a time when so many images seek to smooth over, neutralize, and standardize, Back to Back – From Backyard to Boulevard embraces the unexpected: striking colours, dramatic lighting, partially revealed faces, moments suspended in the heat of the day or the coolness of twilight.
Ultimately, what Stig de Block offers is a celebration – not folkloric, but vibrant – of a culture that continues to reinvent itself, of a territory that pulsates, of a community that, every Sunday, rises up, gathers together, and tells its own story through the vibration and shimmer of metal.
Back to Back – From Backyard to Boulevard de Stig de Block
Hopper And Fuchs Editions, 2023
Photographic work created between 2018 and 2024 in Los Angeles and Southern California.
Represented by Gallery FIFTY ONE
