An art car is a subject of attention, affection and personal transformation, and the culture which surrounds art cars is in a constant state of change. Moving Targets surveys the history of the car as a medium for individual expression and the growth of that expression into a cultural phenomenon in Texas. This show examines the roots of art cars, key artists and works that have fed a community aesthetic and movement, and the evolution of the art car community as the phenomenon matures.
Photo by Tim Danger
Photo by Irvin Tepper
This exhibition explores the art car scene broadly through the artists with their cars and related works, the photographers and videographers that have recorded the history, and historical documentation . Special attention is focused on events and works that have propelled what began as a need to personalize mass-produced transportation into an established medium for artistic endeavor. Examples include the beginnings of the Houston Art Car parade and Collision, the 1984 art exhibit that ratified the art car as “real art”. With the automobile being such an essential element of life in Texas, this exhibit views the art car movement through that lens. Additionally, art cars as an educational tool are highlighted through an installation by the Manhattan Art Program working with Victoria ISD students and international schools to collaborate on art car models.
Visitors will be able to see works that illuminate the breadth of scope and media used by art car artists and the process of creating an art car. Multiple photographic and video installations provide context and the landscape in which the evolution of art cars has happened. An immersive multi-media exhibit, Moving Targets places the visitor at the nexus of past, present and future in the Texas art car experience.
