From his Venice Beach studio, Eli Russell Linnetz once again deconstructs the American dream, this time through “The Wild Bunch”, his latest ERL collection. Known for blurring nostalgia with chaos, Linnetz leans into a post-Western aesthetic that pays tribute to the gritty cinema of the 1970s — think anarchist bikers, grease-stained garments, and clothes that look like they’ve just survived a bar fight. It’s all wrapped in the cinematic atmosphere that defines ERL’s ever-evolving universe.
For the first time, ERL has collaborated with an outside artist — Peter Berlin, the Polish photographer and designer known for his provocative, homoerotic imagery. Berlin’s archival photographs are integrated directly into the pieces, injecting a raw, sweaty, and sexually charged energy that feels both vintage and urgent.
Threading through the entire collection is the narrative of the “Dudley Dozens,” a fictional band of mercenaries that becomes a vehicle for exploring rough, erotic themes inspired by queer subculture and the fetish illustrations of Tom of Finland. The result is a world where masculinity is reframed through the lenses of fantasy, rebellion, and sensuality— a wild, dust-covered ride through American mythology, reimagined by ERL.
