Art car 02

Automotive museum s spring 2003 los angeles california exhibit wild wheels art for the road gallery guide br an example of an with a message meant to educate br later themes have become more widely focused and more satirical or dark one of the funniest and most inventive entries, in recent memory was titled student driver it featured a telephone pole laminated through one corner of the cabin a leg with roller skate still attached projecting from one wheel well and sundry jokey dents and marks of mayhem all over the vehicle political or educational messages are incorporated.

When an artist realizes that they can take advantage of the attention they garner to advance a cause science fiction themes monsters giant insects from them flying saucers are common crowd pleasers expressions of the gothic and the sublime are not unknown surrealism is commonplace in parades and shows shtick often includes arted bicycles or motor scooters or costumed roller skaters weaving among the s many owners are natural born hams and incorporate elements of music or street theater in their presentation br artistic style must be carefully dove tailed with the constraints of the law however the car artist, who takes the time to read the rules is generally surprised at how free expression can be in the united states at least although pulled over by police at times the car artist who is fluent in the law will find that the police are glad to be educated as they themselves often do not realize what is possible under the many law codes on the books for daily driver cartists making sure the art is legal can be a daunting task for some it is part of the fun br s vs mutant vehicles br carthedral is both a mutant vehicle and an br s have been featured at burning man since its inception

But in recent years the festival has been forced to limit the number of vehicles on the playa as such they have restricted the vehicles that are licensed to what they are now calling mutant vehicles there has been some confusion within the burning man and communities over these two terms with some believing the terms are simply synonyms according to art car artist and art car fest organizer philo northrup are street legal vehicles, that have been permanently transformed into mobile sculptures according to the burning man dmv mutant vehicles are art on wheels radically stunningly usually permanently and safely modified motorized vehicles obviously there is some overlap in these categories in general if you can still easily tell what kind of a vehicle it was created from it s probably an art car if it can t be legally driven in city streets. It s probably a mutant vehicle a good example of a creation that is both an art car and a mutant vehicle is carthedral created by rebecca caldwell seen in image at right br vs customs and lowriders br while there is no clear line between where a car is called a custom car and an art car in general art car has fewer stylistic guidelines and tends more towards folk art whereas a custom car usually strives to stretch the rules of standard automotive design without breaking them lowriders and custom cars are often works of art in their own right and some art car parades and gatherings have allowed them as entrants over the years lowriders often sport elaborate paint jobs that clearly qualify as art thus bridging the gap between the two cultures br construction and decoration techniques br an example of a painted car seen in minnesota br range from simply painted to complete bodies constructed from the ground up for painted cars one shot.