Espacios & Lines

For an installation at the San Diego International Airport, I transformed scavenged vehicle parts into sculptures, forging a connection between advanced technological design and the historical symbolism of cars. For years the car has gone beyond day to day function and has symbolized freedom, exploration, and personal identity. Our obsession with automobilia continues despite an estimated 12 million cars per year that are crushed for scrap metal as we move towards obliterating the gas engine. The surviving vehicles are quickly becoming relics of our past, literal and figurative junk of modern society. 

This “car cabinet” was made from the roof of the car, using the massive door hinges of the car to create functional doors with kiln-formed glass windows. Glass also bubbles up out of the former rear window.

Inside are two shag fur columns, lit from within to feature a pair of glass replicas of later model Jaguars, as though they are prized ancient idols. These historic artifacts are actually Avon perfume bottles, circa 1970. I imagined this cabinet in a dystopian future, with the bottles holding some of the last remaining gas fuel, long after internal combustion engines have been obliterated.

The whole show is a love song to car culture.