Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Driving the Dream: Photographs of Art Cars

CONTACTS:

Brenda Kahn, MTC
510.817.5773

Harrod Blank, Photographer
510.841.4128

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 12, 2000... Are they cars, junk, artwork or political statements? Decide for yourself at "Driving the Dream," an exhibit of photographs of art cars now on display at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), located at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter building, 101 Eighth Street, in downtown Oakland (adjacent to the Lake Merritt BART station). The photographs will be up through Nov. 17, 2000, at MTC's offices on the third floor (gallery hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays) as well as in the building's cafe on the first floor (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays).

"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 Harrod Blank, a Berkeley artist, photographer and filmmaker who took the photographs in the exhibit, and who has created several art cars himself. Blank counts among his personal art car 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, five of them working.

Blank is not alone in his passion: The exhibit showcases some 50 other artists who have used vehicles as their canvas. Among the featured vehicles are "Glass Quilt," a VW bug encrusted with a psychedelic patchwork of stained glass and marbles; "Cowasaki," a motorcycle that has been transformed to look like a cow; "Guitcycle," an oversized guitar on wheels; "Mirrormobile," a 1970 Oldsmobile completely covered in mirror tiles; and "Fruitmobile," a 1979 Ford station wagon painted with images of fruit, flowers and fish, and studded with plastic fruit and flowers.

Blank has popularized and promoted the concept of art cars through two films, "Driving the Dream" and "Wild Wheels," as well as a companion book, and via the Bay Area ArtCar Fest, an annual event that will take place this month, September 21-24, in several locations around the region. For more information on the festival, visit www.artcarfest.com.

For more information on MTC's community art program, contact Senior Public Information Officer Brenda Kahn, tel. 510.817.5773.

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