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Label Text 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.
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
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
DimensionsOverall: 65 × 42 × 68 in. (165.1 × 106.7 × 172.7 cm)
Accession Number 1987.9.a-.b
Classificationssculpture
CopyrightARS
ProvenanceArtist; Lone Star Foundation, New York [acquired from the previous]; Dia Art Foundation, New York [acquired by 1982]. Xavier Fourcade, New York [acquired by 1986]; (Contemporary Art from the Estate of Xavier Fourcade, Sotheby’s, New York, 4 November 1987); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 1987]
Vandam Billy
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Tony Feher
2012
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
John Chamberlain
1967
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Deborah Butterfield
1986
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Jaume Plensa
2007
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
David Smith
1961
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Tony Smith
1961, fabricated 1989
Photo Credit: Rick Lozier, Des Moines
Sol LeWitt
1969
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ugo Rondinone
2005
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ugo Rondinone
2006
Photo Credit: © Cameron Campbell 2009
Tony Smith
1962, fabricated 2005