Speeding passion: the car in art
From cult object to used object to an emitting evil: automobiles are many things. They have also been influential arts object according to an Emden Art Museum exhibition showcasing 100 years of the car in art history.
Carl Benz meets Andy Warhol
Pop Art legend Andy Warhol was commissioned to produce 80 pictures for Daimler-Benz in 1986. The artist completed 35 before he died a year later. "Benz Patent Motorwagen" depicted the first Benz model, from 1886, in Warhol's iconic style. "I love the automobile," the artist said - perhaps because his Pop Art was also inspired by assembly line production. He didn't have a driver's license, however.
All in a row
A status symbol from the time of the German economic miracle: the enormously popular Beetle and Camper Van VW models are seen lined up here in a hazy painting by artist Gerhard Richter. 1965's "Kleiner Parkplatz" (Little Parking Lot) meditates on the mass consumption that was a favorite subject of the Pop Art era.
Driving into the light
Berlin artist Hans Hemmert sits in his own car in "Unterwegs" (1996), part of a series in which the artist portrays himself in his daily environment. He also distorted each scenario by covering it in a yellow latex membrane.
The world from below
For the installation, "The travelling carriage of Goethe the Mercedes of Adenauer and my smart" (2012), artist Asta Gröting made a mold of the underside of her own smart car. She also produced casts of the underbelly of Konrad Adenauer's car, and Johann von Goethe’s horse carriage. Her work deals with the transformation of production methods, from handcrafted vehicles to digitally-produced cars.
A stinker behind glass
The exhaust as a cultural good to be preserved in museums: Gavin Turk's "Tract" (2010) displays in a showcase the corpus delicti of the most important scandal in automobile history - adding new layers of interpretation to the familiar object. This exhaust never functioned, however, as it was reproduced by Turk in bronze and only appears to be real through elaborate painting.
Neon rider
What ever way one feels about automobiles, they retain broad cult appeal. As "The automobile in art" exhibition demonstrates, cars are one of the rare inventions to have found their way into the arts for over a century. Along with about 100 works, this neon installation by Jonathan Monk titled "Used Car" (2011) can be seen at the Kunsthalle Emden until November 5, 2017.