2009 May | So Far From Shore - Gerald Edwards III, Trey Edwards, T-Bird & The Thunderfeet - BLAG

So I was at the megaplex movie house the other night seeing, for some reason, State of Play, which is essentially the same movie as Body of Lies, with Russell Crowe playing an overweight journalist, rather than an overweight CIA operative, both times located in Washington D.C. I guess also they replaced the death of traditional media as the meta theme, rather than the failure of the American military to understand the nature of battle in the 21st century, but both films toe the same line on top heavy organizations not getting the picture. Anyway, sitting there through the trailers, the above BMW commercial comes blasting on, making me wonder when I will be able to afford my Tesla Roadster and then boom! I realize It is the exact same deal as Aaron Young’s performance painting at the Armory from 2008. This is probably the 20000th translation of an art experience assimilated by an ad agency, to make money on the large.

Except! This time it was an artist grabbing from a colleague, in that South African Robin Rhode as his contribution to BMW’s longstanding “ART CAR” line, which in a logical train of thought decided to use the car as an implement rather than the traditional car-as-canvas - but at the same time didn’t credit his most recent of predecessors in this practice, Mr. Young. It becomes even more interesting when you imply Jake Scott, of Ridley progeny to helm the director’s chair for the commercial. Or even better, why not just have them do it together?

I say, don’t worry about, and just spend your time checking out the fifteen previous Art Cars, and looking at this interview from Frank Stella’s thoughts on the collaboration.

from Wallpaper Magazine

////////////////////////////////
This Young rock piques my vibrations, as growing up I surfed every day at a super localized surf break off a jetty, where unfortunately there was no hard line graffiti, but the memories of what gooned out toughness there could have been run through my head.

photos courtesy of The Armory & Brian Sholis