…Imagined, Drawn, and Sculpted to a Fine Art
For many traditional artists and art appreciators it may be difficult to understand how we could claim that cars are art, but first you must understand how a car is born. Like many great drawings, paintings, and sculptures, the car is first imagined. For car designers there is a soul to the car and they see it as their art to capture and release that soul.
The beginnings of a car don’t start out in a machine shop or on a computer, they start with pencil and ink on paper… they start as drawings.
Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.
– Michelangelo
Just like many great artists throughout history, famous car designers such as Pininfarina, Carrozzeria Ghia, and Zagato were famously inspired by the natural voluptuousness of the female form. Many car designers look to capture the natural grace and fluidity that females seem to inherently possess. As the designer sketches out the concept of the car, their drawings go through stages of refinement until they reach a stage at which they need to see the form three dimensionally.
Modern technology now allows the use of the computer to digitally render the car, but many designers prefer the craftsmanship and hand working of a clay model. By literally sculpting the car, the designer is able to feel every surface curve and angle of the car. This is an age old process that is still regularly implored by designers for Mercedes, Ferrari and even the cubist cars of Lamborghini.
There is an undeniable art to creating these sculptures as it takes both vision, balance, harmony and attention to detail. To some, a car may just be the means of transportation, but that’s like walking into a gallery or an artist studio and saying “oh they’re just posters.” Cars are creations of imaginations and artistry, they’re drawn and sculpted in the most traditional of medias and for many admirers they embody a passion and emotion that can only be described as art.
So for those that argue against cars being art, we must ask the question…with the amount of vision, artistry and craftsmanship that goes into a car, what about it isn’t art?
