Artwork > Car Sculptures

Scott Car
Scott Car
painted wood, found objects
5' x 5'x 16'
2021

Shown here at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, 2021

The Scott Car is one of a series of sculpture cars. The project is on-going and will be followed by other car structures. This car is inspired by the life of Wendell Scott. He was an American stock car racing driver. Scott was one of the first African-American drivers in NASCAR, and the first African-American to win a race in the Grand Nationals. Many early racers in America developed driving skills on dirt roads in the American south as they skillfully fled from police enforcing bootlegging laws. Thematically, the race car sculptures attempt to make connections to ideas of risk, danger, and ecstasy, espoused by the American Abstract expressionist painters. The interior of the sculptures hold collections of liquor bottles, which reference bootlegging history, heavy drinking artists, and the excesses of American culture, in particular the auto industry.