Comments on: Car = Art?

By: Bernard May

Bernard May — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:04:47 +0000

Art is an expression of the artist be it an alfa Romeo 8C or a Carravagio.

Modern art is very much the figment of the artist’s imagination so why can’t a car be considered an art form.

I believe a lot of so called art such as Damian Hurst’s “stuff” is not art in a pure sense but it is still seen to be art by the wise and wonderful.

In my book, cars like the DS,Muira and 8C are stunning works of art because they are form over function whilst still maintaining the ability to perform as a mode of travel. Many modern vehicles are simply modes of transport with little style.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:18:01 +0000

I REGARD OLDER CARS AS MOVING SCULPTURES, BUT I WILL SAY THAT THE MAJORITY OF MODERN CARS ARE JUST PLAIN UGLY, AN EXAMPLE OF BUREAUCRATS AND THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OBSESSIVES HAVING TOO MUCH INPUT PERHAPS, A TRULY BEAUTIFULL CAR IS AN EXCEPTION NOWDAYS ONLY THE ITALIANS SEEM TO HAVE A CLUE,APART FROM THAT MOST ORDINARY CARS LOOK BLAND AND SIMLAR, I LIKE TO DRIVE A GOOD LOOKING CAR MYSELF AS IT BRINGS ME PLEASURE TO LOOK AT AS WELL AS DRIVE.

By: Scoutmann

Scoutmann — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:00:02 +0000

If anyone wants an art form, take a look at an IH Scout. Its a masterpiece of art! Its ruggedness, its curves. But for a car to be a masterpiece, it must also be judged on the way it handles, sounds and runs. The Scout also takes the cake in that! It’ll go anywhere you want it to go, any place, any time, and when you arrive, it’ll scoff and say “Is this all you got?!” Its engine is music, that sounds like a lullaby, until you hit the gas, which then it sounds like concert. It handles like a dream. Its an art form all right, even though its from the 70’s.
In Reference to a 1975 International harvester Scout 2

By: Paul Broughton

Paul Broughton — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:20:49 +0000

A beautiful car moving is like art in motion, a statement of design flair. From it’s conception to the drawing board, then on to a model making shop. The symetry and flowing lines being honed at each stage until the model becomes a statement of art and beauty. Then on to the manufacturing line where the first prototype is born like one of god’s beautiful creations at birth. The first time the car fires up it is like a new-born child taking it’s first breath of life. Just like a masterpiece or a fine wine improving with age. To be cherished by all that behold it, and for those fortunate enough to own one of these masterpieces, a real treasure with a personality all it’s own. The greatest cars reflect the frontiers of design and engineering at the time they are conceived. Often only becoming a classic after many years of reflection. Yet every now and then a car is born that is an instant classic like a Bugatti type 35b, an Aston Martin DB5, a Ferrari 250 GTO, a Lamborghini Muira or an Alfa Romeo 8c.

By: Garry

Garry — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:18:32 +0000

Dane at 10.53

Displaying a car in a modern art gallery is usually to indicate its good or innovative design, often to represent the apogee of car design emblematic of its time, not as a work of art, per se.

As for some car owners admiring their cars: there’s no harm in that, although I have reservations about those who identify with them so much they keep them in their living room, and their wife, if they have one, in a shed at the bottom of the garden.

Those who “feel” a fine car should be art probably confuse the way it tingles all the senses; it moves them metaphorically and literally. They assume it must be art.

It “ain’t.”

Good art stimulates the intellect, it causes us to question the status quo, great art stimulates the intellect, perception, and the soul too. It forces us to see things in new ways. It has some universal meaning, some significance.

It was great artists, such as Mark Rothko, who made us see better how different colours affect our moods and senses, many years outcome of intense experiment picked up and used by informed car stylists, not the other way around.

A good sports car is … a good sports car, in the same way as a good piano is a good piano. It is not a a great piano concerto even if it is used to play one.

By: Jon Kelly

Jon Kelly — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:58:51 +0000

I was watching a film recently art was said to be something beautiful created out of nothing. In that case a car is art if it is deemed to be beautiful as in the film a doodle was pointed out to be particularly beautiful it is not saying much. Has any one noticed how funny old cars look when you have not seen one in a long time. For instance I say a Hillman Imp some time ago it was not beautiful but looked wierd and funny.

By: rob

rob — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:22:31 +0000

many years ago, the original range rover was displayed in the louvre art gallery. it was the first to be displayed as automotive art in a mainline gallery. machines and vehicles in particular, can stir up emotions, hence they can be classed as art. from the plug ugly to the stunningly beautiful, most will create a reaction to the way they look.

By: Dane

Dane — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:43:06 +0000

Cars are not art per-se, but the ideas behind them, they are art. The design and manufacture of a car from start to finish is no less a challenge than Leonardo da Vinci had painting the Mona Lisa, which brings me to suggest that if a car is designed so that it is pleasant to look at and touch and every part of it has been inspired by one thing or another, just as any artist would have been inspired whilst painting or sculpting, then a car too should be art, because after all, is an aesthetically pleasing car such as the Alfa Romeo 8c not just a magnificent sculpture? It just happens to have an engine, and for this is not considered art? This would be a travesty, therefore a car is art as long as the people who make them keep the people who buy them, wanting to see the next masterpiece, just as da Vinci did.

By: Roy Biddle

Roy Biddle — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:00:54 +0000

I had an Alfa Romeo 156 for 6 years and I never tired looking at it. The lines and proportions ar absolutely beautiful. I admired it the same way I would a painting or sculpture. Some cars are definitely art.

By: Garry

Garry — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:15:40 +0000

Steve at 8.49

A painting is still art even when framed and on the wall.

Mind you …

There is good art, bad art, mediocre art, and non-art. No art is practical. If an object is practical it is “design.” You need some aesthetic ability to design things, but not necessarily to be an artist.

With cars, there are engineers who have something of the artist in them, but in the main, there exist car designers and car stylists.

The former, those with some aesthetic sensibility and training, have a good chance of designing a classic, something that will appear timeless. On the other hand the stylist’s work is transient, replaced next year with a new fashion, the latest trend.

That last category probably represents ninety percent of what we see on our street.