Art Cars

Art Cars

Occasionally you will see one parked on the street or driving through your town. It may just sport a creative paint job or have an assortment of objects attached to the outside. In some cases, the vehicle will be so radically altered as to disguise the model or make of the car underneath, or so covered with bumper stickers that it takes half an hour just to read one side. Art cars are a phenomenon that has been a mode of artistic and political expression for as long as people have used wheeled transportation.

From beautiful artistic creations to nightmarish assaults on the retina, art cars are often the result of years of labor, gallons of epoxy, thousands of discarded and rescued pieces of junk, and hundreds of hours of psychiatric counseling. There is no ignoring the eye-popping reaction we experience when Red Stiletto or the Wrought Iron VW rolls down the street. Another reaction altogether may occur when you turn a corner one day and there double-parked, is a Mercedes Benz which is entirely clad in felt-tip pens.

Ornithologists categorize birds, and some other obsessive compulsive categorizes art cars. Purists declare that in order to qualify as an art car, it has to retain the identity of the underlying make and model vehicle, must be drivable on city streets, and has to be the artistic work of the owner/driver. More esthetes include the rule that you must also live in the vehicle for it to qualify. The blank canvas of the motor vehicle offers an almost unlimited range of possibilities when a welding torch, Bondo, epoxy, fiberglass, and paint are delicately applied.

Looking back into past decades, the practice of decorating ones vehicle as a form of personal expression could have come into its own with the heyday of the "Flower Children," or the post-war decoration of jalopies after the airmen's practice of adorning their aircraft with "nose art." Regardless of when the practice staggered into some form of recognition, "Art Cars" is now a permanent, recognized entity in not-so-mainstream art circles. These same circles, which include the esteemed art critics at the "Burning Man" festival have recently had to limit entries that are permitted to participate, due to the overwhelming increase in popularity and numbers of art car pod people.



As with any good thing, when its size reaches a critical mass, good people give in to a universal urge to govern that mass. So, too, it has happened with art cars. But this is a good thing; to organize a traveling caravan to tour the United States and bless towns, small and large, with a mind-blowing exhibit of these one-of-a-kind vehicles. ArtCar Fest, as it is known, has been managing to do just that for the past eleven years. Convening in major as well as minor cultural centers, such as San Francisco, California, ArtCar Fest attracts crowds of admirers, non-believers, and the just plain curious. At any given venue, expect live music, food, and attractive, stylish people to congregate. Street musicians, circus performers, and "D" list celebs are bound to show up.

The 2007 ArtCar Fest recently held court in Santa Cruz, California and was met with ecstatic crowds and paparazzi from around the globe. From hieroglyphics stenciled through gold spray paint, to choreographed lobsters, the diversity of the art was impressive. The giant, red, motorized Radio Flyer wagon with the 3.5 liter V-8 engine was of the highest quality workmanship.

A movable feast for the eyes, the Art Car Fest is a West Coast tradition which has gathered a devoted following for eleven years. Smaller local groups and individual art car artists add their unusual brand of individuality to city streets, while creating an outlet for their creative energy and social agenda. Not restricted to the US, art cars can be seen on any street, worldwide.