Driving the Dream

Images of Art Cars
Photographed by Harrod Blank

MTC Offices, Third Floor
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays

Are they cars, junk, artwork or political statements? Decide for yourself as you cruise through our exhibit of art car images along the 7th Street corridor. The photographs were all taken by Harrod Blank, a Berkeley artist, photographer and filmmaker. “Art cars are vehicles that have been transformed by their owners into mobile, public art, representing the merger of Americans’ love for their car with the need for individual expression,” said Blank, who has created several art cars himself. Blank counts among his personal collection “Oh My God!,” a highly decorated VW bug festooned with working lights and spinning plastic sunflowers; “Pico de Gallo,” a rock-and-roll themed VW bug that features live working guitars, horns, drums, flutes, keyboards, microphones, a public address system and a record-shaped stage; and the “Camera Van,” a 1972 Dodge van outfitted with 1,705 cameras, 10 of them working.

Blank is not alone in his passion: The exhibit showcases some 40 other artists who have used vehicles as their canvas. Blank has popularized and promoted the concept of art cars through two films, “Driving the Dream” and “Wild Wheels” (the latter of which has spawned a companion book of the same title), and via the Bay Area ArtCar Fest, an annual event that takes place in September in several locations around the region. A new book of Blank’s photos, Art Cars: The Cars, the Artists, the Obsession, the Craft, was issued in 2002.

For more information, visit www.artcarfest.com.
MTC contact: Brenda Kahn, 510.817.5773

Harrod Blank in his flashcube suit