Austrian artist Erwin Wurm may stretch the concept of sculpture but you can’t deny that the man has a sense of whimsy. Though the basic concept of art cars appeals to me, the execution often has a whiff of hostility to the automobile that this car enthusiast can’t stomach. That notwithstanding, when I first saw a photo of one of Wurm’s Fat Car series, I couldn’t help but smile. After all, we enthusiasts often complain about how manufacturers we once admired have allowed their cars to get bloated and heavy.
How can you not give at least grudging props to a man, in Austria of all places, where Dr. Porsche spent his early career, who has the blasphemous audacity to turn a Porsche into a real Porker? More than a decade ago Wurm started out with smaller fat car sculptures, sort of scale models. One small Fat Car sold for 55,000 Euros in 2009. Wurm then moved on to a full size Fat Car, working with Opel engineers. Wurm told an interviewer that he had hoped to end up with with something that combined something biological with something mechanical, but according to the artist Opel’s digital design equipment could not render the “natural” looking shapes that he was looking for, so he decided to start with an already assembled car, in this case a Porsche cabriolet. Working with expanded polyurethane and polystyrene foams covered with laquer, Wurm debuted the “Fat Convertible” Porsche in 2004. Since then he has made other Fat Cars.
Mr. Wurm seems to like using things automotive as an artistic medium. In 2005, Wurm created a work titled Truck, an Isuzu medium duty whose bed can rest against a wall.
After bending a truck, in 2006 he made a bent bus, a VW Transporter that thinks it’s a caterpillar, titled Telekinetically Bent VW Van.
You can check out more of Erwin Wurm’s art at his minimalist website.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading– RJS
Well, at least it will be pedestrian-safe, cause they will run away from the thing.
Finally, cars that look more like the people driving them! Art imitating life…
“Truck” sure looks like a Mercedes-Benz 307D. It even has a badge that says 307D.
I was surprised to find it described as an Isuzu.
It’s clearly a Mercedes-Benz TN not an Isuzu.
You’re correct, and it can be read clearly in larger versions of the photo, but I never saw those. I was looking at smaller photos of the 2007 Truck (there’s another one that Wurm did in 2005) and in those photos to my eyes that “307D” still looks like it could be “Isuzu”. The 3 looks like an S, the 7 looks like a Z and the D looks like a U.
I don’t know Euro trucks very well and when I saw a badge that, to me, looked like it read Isuzu, I went with it. Thanks for the correction.
The final link, for the artist’as minimalist website, is gunked up and should be http://www.erwinwurm.at
That red car is the actual pre-production Porsche Rindswurst, scheduled for release in 2014. It will be powered by ecoboosted 1.8 liter.
The fat cars were ordered by Toyota as teaser advertising for the 2013 Lexus LS.
What’s Ford ordering for the next generation F150? Are they just going to chop the roof off a school bus and bedline the interior?
Not that I don’t like Ford. I’m just saying I’m onboard with the notion that car size in the US has gone completely off the rails in the past two decades.
The next F150 will be made of recycled sardine cans.
I hate the itching, but I don’t mind the swelling!
When did Nerf start building cars? Maybe it’s having some sort of allergic reaction. Just poke it with an epi pen. It will return to normal in a few minutes.
Asthetically (not talking about physical weight) all cars are beginning to look like this. It’s nasty.
Well, this or a combination of this and “surprised insect” (borrowed term) like the Fiesta and other recent small cars.
I know we have covered this ground before, but the Audi 5000/Taurus is what a car should look like. Not some swollen surprised looking metal thing.
Oh, hush– they are not.
Production cars have brand-specific grills and tail lighting.
There was an experimental safety car in the 1950’s called the Aurora created by a Father Juliano that bears a strong resemblance to this creation. It was considered pretty ugly at the time but got a lot of press when auto safety started to become a public discussion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(1957_automobile)
Wish I was at a gallery showing these things. While drinking some wine and eating cheese I’d hear blabbing; most of it interesting or making sense and few delving into esoteric one upsmanship. There would also be blabbings of this is the new avenue for art and counter replies of no, it’s a dead end street. Sound familiar?
This isn’t art, its just ugly.
Quick, get Sajeev to write up a Vellum Venom on this thing. I want to hear all about the organic shapes.
It appears to be just another NASA spinoff like teflon. It was last used as a martian lander. It actually makes a lot of sense. First there was one airbag, then two, then ten. Why not one big one. Plus, there is no need for sensors or explosives; it’s pre-inflated.
You see the same trend in engines. First eight cylinders, then six, then four. This car has one big cylinder.
I’ve seen the red Porker, uh, Porsche, and guessed the purpose was to satirize the bloat and excess on display with owning such a vehicle, but since he’s gone and “enfattened” more proletarian cars, I suppose my view doesn’t hold much water (no pun intended).
“The final link, for the artist’as minimalist website…..”
Minimalist indeed!
He needs to contact a web page designer, like, today!
Eeek! The red car image brings back the terrible memory of me accidentally walking in on a 400 lb+ fat lady in a public restroom on the Island of Sardinia. Thanks for the memories, you’ve erased countless therapy sessions.
It looks like the Care Bears car!