The painted and chromium-plated steel sculpture rests on the floor and is representative of Chamberlain's overall style since the early 60's. Chamberlain is widely acclaimed as one of the first artists to use extensive color in his sculpture, and frequently described as the sculptural equivalent to Abstract Expressionist painting. He began using crushed motor body parts and automobile scrap metal in the late 1950's. Chamberlain's forms originally were determined by necessity and his attraction to the bright chromium colors of the automobile industry.
Chamberlain's use of the debris from our car culture is related to the interests of the Pop artists. Like these artists, Chamberlain explored and exploited mass media and popular culture as the subject of his art. Through his scrap metal sculptures he is aligned with other twentieth century artists whose fundamental concern [is] for the specific object.
Source: DMAC News, January February March 1998
Although he has explored different materials in sculpture, Chamberlain’s automobile-derived sculptures remain his signature works. The car is seen by many as the epitome of American pop culture, and by appropriating it as both subject and medium, Chamberlain aligns himself with Pop Art. Like other Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist, Chamberlain is interested in blurring the boundaries between art and life. Crushed, wrecked, or discarded cars are familiar to us as urban refuse, but even welded and reformed, these materials are surprising to see in a museum setting.
Exhibition History"The Abstract Tradition in American Art," Des Moines Art Center, Dec. 7, 1991 - Feb. 23, 1992
Published ReferencesAN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.78, color ill. pp.78 & 79
DMAC News, Nov./Dec. 1992, p.6
