The airport race, while of questionable entertainment, showed, at minute seven of the show, how good BTCC drivers are at vehicle control. They guy driving the bendy-bus, being pushed by a truck, on a wet track, managed to kinda hold it together.
Not at all bad for a vehicle hinged in the middle.
When does a photograph, film, sound clip, drawing, doodle, sculpture or creation cross that magical threshold and become art?
Well, to me, art needs to communicate, in whatever medium, to the subject's emotions. In this internet day and age, however, photos of even supercars are no longer rare and can barely stir me. However, each time a Lamborghini flies past, a Porsche speeds away, or a Ferrari roars forward, my heart flutters a little, my blood pressure increases a little, and my eyes go wide a little.
That said, a photo taken of any car in the right circumstances, can, and often do, affect my emotions they way only art can. Be it a photo of a Porsche at the Ring, a Can-Am car at the Corkscrew, or an endless, lonely road with a lone muscle car powering towards the horizon (a la Vanishing Point), they definitely make me feel a little better about being alive. Provocative imagery needs to inspire dreams, and photos of cars can do just that: what is more fascinating than a journey, in that car, to wherever your heart takes you.
Edited by dolo54 blows minds and blows engines! at 12/04/09 1:00 PM
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I recently did this drawing of a Porsche 356, one of my favorite cars of all time. In the process of drawing it I wasn't much into the drawing. I didn't like it at all. I didn't think it was realistic enough. As I was finishing it up adding small highlights and details and such. I suddenly had a strange feeling. I wanted to be that person in the drivers seat. I wanted to be there in that drawing driving that car. I have never had that feeling before in something I had drawn. Maybe the drawing didn't make me feel exactly what it is like to drive a 356. I have never driven one after all but I did used to drive a 1961 VW Bug and I think it must be similar. I was closer to understanding just what it must feel like to drive that car than I have ever been before. I hope I don't sound arrogant but, I think I accomplished just what James May is looking for.
Anthropormorphizing notwithstanding, I do think that cars can be made into art without the use of odd color schemes or name badges. I also think that a tattered old Kia Sedona can tell as much as a shiny new 911.
They is the realization that cars are, in fact, inanimate objects that cannot actively tell stories about themselves. What they can do, however, is tell stories about the people who built them, bought them, drove them, own them, etc.
To start with, different cars are aimed at different demographics, and different demographics have different characteristics. Like it or not, that new BMW or Volkswagen or Toyota does say something about you as a person in that it your personal values are reflected in your choice of car.
Older cars, such as the likely mythical example of an original, unmolested, and unrestored survivor of a 289 Shelby Cobra can tell even more. They are cars that were built for a purpose, and say quite a bit about the man behind them and the people that bought them, both new and over the years. Every dent, every paint chip, every tear in the seats is a story; a story of love, action, heartbreak, sometimes a little bit of neglect, but always a story. They are the car's battle scars, and do more to make the car beautiful than any restoration could ever do.
The same goes for motorcycles. The most beautiful motorcycles out there aren't brand new Gixxers or the like, but rather the dented, scratched, old Harley knuckleheads with chipped and faded paint and worn out seats; or an old Tribsa with terrible paint and brutally scuffed up foot pegs.
Those old cars are a lot like models such as Cindy Crawford; so many people harped on her about her little mole, but in the end, that tiny little bit of imperfection on an otherwise flawlessly gorgeous woman made her even more beautiful and interesting.
Any car can tell a story, and any car, even my POS, can be a work of art. Why? Because cars well and truly are works of art that can not only be seen, but be touched, smelled, heard, felt, and driven, combining all of our human senses into one magnificent experience and the story of it.
@pauljones: That unrestored, unmolested Cobra you were talking about? Here it is. The owner drives it regularly, maintains it in top running condition, but is determined to leave it completely original. Cool guy.
As a clay sculptor for *cough* motor company I feel a sense of beauty with any car I come in contact with. I find myself walking up and running my fingers over the creases in the sheet metal imagining the effort and thought that was put into sculpting that fender, as it it were fine silk or leather.
It is with a sense of sadness that I see the decline of hand sculpting as computers take the place of clay more and more. One can only hope it will never completely go away, but who knows what the future holds.
@Bertone77: They said that CAD would spell the end of hand-drawn architectural sketches, too. That didn't happen, and I really doubt that it will happen with clay automobile sculptures. CAD will help you see what it looks like and how the parts will go together, but it can never allow you to experience is the same way that an actual, corporeal model will.
@pauljones: I read this article in Motor Trend a while back (it's online, BTW) and absolutely fell in love with this car. I don't know that I'd have the discipline to stick to the degree of originality this guy is maintaining- I'd probably wind up being the douchebag who would ruin it with new paint and chromed wheels.
@pauljones: The Cobra is an excellent example. All the perfectly shiny copies of this car don't have the soul and character of the original. To me there is no comparison between an original and a clone that shares nothing but a similar body shape.
There are very few sports cars in the world which have the...... I can't even think of an appropriate word...... quiet confidence as the old school (pre-964) 930 Turbo.
It simple exudes this feeling that it wants to go.
It is the automotive equivalent of an Iowa class battleship with all it's turrets aimed towards the shore of an unfriendly place.
Quick side note--I remember reading a while back that "car people" actually use the same part of their brain for car recognition as for facial recognition...this explains how so many of us can see a glimpse of a taillight, or Matt's parents' Mazda3 buried under sheetrock, and still tell what kind of car it is.
@bearslayer: Yep, it is. The article (BBC, I think) said that people who weren't interested in cars never took the time to differentiate them in that manner...I supposed it's sort of like a person with Alzheimer's.
12/07/09
Not at all bad for a vehicle hinged in the middle.
12/04/09
12/04/09
[www.chevroletpedia.org]
12/04/09
Fred: Ha, you Porsche guys like it in the back.
skitter: ...
Fred: No one mention that I have a Karmann-Ghia.
12/04/09
12/04/09
When does a photograph, film, sound clip, drawing, doodle, sculpture or creation cross that magical threshold and become art?
Well, to me, art needs to communicate, in whatever medium, to the subject's emotions. In this internet day and age, however, photos of even supercars are no longer rare and can barely stir me. However, each time a Lamborghini flies past, a Porsche speeds away, or a Ferrari roars forward, my heart flutters a little, my blood pressure increases a little, and my eyes go wide a little.
That said, a photo taken of any car in the right circumstances, can, and often do, affect my emotions they way only art can. Be it a photo of a Porsche at the Ring, a Can-Am car at the Corkscrew, or an endless, lonely road with a lone muscle car powering towards the horizon (a la Vanishing Point), they definitely make me feel a little better about being alive. Provocative imagery needs to inspire dreams, and photos of cars can do just that: what is more fascinating than a journey, in that car, to wherever your heart takes you.
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12/04/09
They is the realization that cars are, in fact, inanimate objects that cannot actively tell stories about themselves. What they can do, however, is tell stories about the people who built them, bought them, drove them, own them, etc.
To start with, different cars are aimed at different demographics, and different demographics have different characteristics. Like it or not, that new BMW or Volkswagen or Toyota does say something about you as a person in that it your personal values are reflected in your choice of car.
Older cars, such as the likely mythical example of an original, unmolested, and unrestored survivor of a 289 Shelby Cobra can tell even more. They are cars that were built for a purpose, and say quite a bit about the man behind them and the people that bought them, both new and over the years. Every dent, every paint chip, every tear in the seats is a story; a story of love, action, heartbreak, sometimes a little bit of neglect, but always a story. They are the car's battle scars, and do more to make the car beautiful than any restoration could ever do.
The same goes for motorcycles. The most beautiful motorcycles out there aren't brand new Gixxers or the like, but rather the dented, scratched, old Harley knuckleheads with chipped and faded paint and worn out seats; or an old Tribsa with terrible paint and brutally scuffed up foot pegs.
Those old cars are a lot like models such as Cindy Crawford; so many people harped on her about her little mole, but in the end, that tiny little bit of imperfection on an otherwise flawlessly gorgeous woman made her even more beautiful and interesting.
Any car can tell a story, and any car, even my POS, can be a work of art. Why? Because cars well and truly are works of art that can not only be seen, but be touched, smelled, heard, felt, and driven, combining all of our human senses into one magnificent experience and the story of it.
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
As a clay sculptor for *cough* motor company I feel a sense of beauty with any car I come in contact with. I find myself walking up and running my fingers over the creases in the sheet metal imagining the effort and thought that was put into sculpting that fender, as it it were fine silk or leather.
It is with a sense of sadness that I see the decline of hand sculpting as computers take the place of clay more and more. One can only hope it will never completely go away, but who knows what the future holds.
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
It simple exudes this feeling that it wants to go.
It is the automotive equivalent of an Iowa class battleship with all it's turrets aimed towards the shore of an unfriendly place.
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/03/09