Wooden Art Car Called Gunner By Incredible Sculptor Michael Cooper

Wooden Art Car Called Gunner By Michael Cooper


Gunner Top View

Gunner Wooden Wheel Close Up

Gunner Pipe Close Up


Gunner Rear Disk Brakes Close Up

all photos via Michael Cooper Sculptor

This wooden art car called "Gunner" was created by amazing sculptor Michael Cooper who resides in Sebastopol CA. It was created in 2007 and made up from 65 different types of hard wood. is 120"x60"x39" and is owned by a private collector in Napa CA.

Not only does he live just down the street from me but I took my first 3D art class in college with Michael Cooper who inspired me to take more classes for the next four years that lead me into Graphic Design. He also encouraged us to start keeping art journals and 19 years later I have completed 23 of them.

Any ways Michael Cooper is simply amazing in the way he is able to combine wood and metal to create art that is simply mind boggling. I look at his works and cant for the life of me wrap my wind around his ability to twist and bend wood and metal in such a way. His art defies the laws of nature and has somehow tapped into a parallel universe where wood and metal naturally look this way.

Gunner is just one of the many pieces he has created and has been doing this since 1968. His portfolio is a must see, but we warned, give yourself plenty of time to browse and then come back for a second and third look. I guarantee you will never get tired of looking at his art.

Thanks Michael, its an honor to have you here on Art Car Central:)

Legally Blind 7-Year Old Loves to Draw Art Cars

Corey Graves is an amazing 7-year-old from Sabin Elementary School who just loves to draw art cars. When asked how he gets his ideas he said:

"I've got to get a brainstorm in my head," which then goes "boom!" and is followed by "lightning pops!" and, "then whoop! Here comes a car outta my head."

The most amazing thing about him is that Corey is considered legally blind because of a genetic vision disability. His hand starts moving with deliberate motions. He draws a squarish shape, then moves the pencil up to draw windows, then adds details. He is quiet, still and totally focused on his creation. more via

Harrod Blank's Automorphosis - Amazing art car movie now showing

Harrod Blank's art car movie Automorphosis is now out and will be shown in selected theaters around the country. This is the most amazing and inspiring look into the minds and hearts of those of us out there who build and drive these works of mobile art called art cars. The movie is a humorous and touching journey as we discover what drives these cast of unconventional characters in their creative process. Some of the cars featured in this movie will be: The Camera Van, The Telephone Car , Salvation Mountain. In fact the whole reason art car central is here today is because of Harrod's book wild wheels that inspired me to create the Mercedes Pens art car and then on to create this blog. So I am very excited about this movie and want the world to know about it.

The other big news is that David Silberberg's film about Harrod life and career, "Oh My God, It's Harrod Blank!" is going to have it's World Premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City Utah January 16th.

Here are the play dates for the two films:

AUTOMORPHOSIS

Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Jan 23 12:30 PM Victoria Hall, Santa Barbara CA
Jan 24 4:45 PM Metro 4 Theater 4, Santa Barbara CA
Jan 26 6:30 PM Victoria Hall, Santa Barbara CA

SF Indie Fest
Feb 14 5 PM Roxie Theater in San Francisco CA
Feb 17 7 PM Roxie Theater in San Francisco CA
Feb 21 7:15 PM Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley CA

Big Sky International Documentary Film Festival
Feb 18, 10:30 PM Wilma 1 Missoula MT

OH MY GOD, IT'S HARROD BLANK!

Slamdance Film Festival
Feb 16, 3 PM, Main Screening Room Treasure Mtn. Inn, Park City UT
Feb 23, 10 AM Gallery Screening Room, Treasure Mtn. Inn, Park City UT

Harrod Blank will in person at all of his screenings and at David's screening on the 16th so get there support the movie.

Harrod is also currently entering his film into as many film festivals as he can and it is looking good for Ashland Film Festival, and Santa Cruz. He will be doing a special screening in Lubbock Texas in April which will know about later and hopefully Dallas, Austin, Houston, and Mcallen all in April, May.

And hopefully the DVD will also be released around March.

Psychedelic Porsche Art Car

Margaret Warren is an painter from Florida just finished painting her '65 Porsche 356 C Coupe and frankly it's simply stunning. She said that "Contrary to what most people think (that I was inspired to paint my own Porsche by Janis Joplin's famous Porsche) - I was actually inspired by my mother's work on an early 70's VW station wagon. Margaret you have done a great job and welcome to the art car scene, we hope to see you soon.






Photos From Porsche Art Car

Mercedes Pens Art Car at Maker Faire 08

Pen Guy with pen covered hard hat and reflective safety jacket photo by thaths

I figured now would be a good time to include my very own Mercedes Pens Art Car covered inside and out in close to 7,000 pens of all kinds. Since I just went to Maker Faire 08 in San Mateo, I found a fresh batch of really nice photos of the pen car and my self The Pen Guy on Flick.

Below is a nice shot of the inside of the car with dashboard covered in pens using velcro so I can take them off and rearrange them. As you can see no car is complete with out a pair of fuzzy dice from the rear view mirror and a ton of lanyard pens that now completely block my view in certain spots.


Inside the Mercedes Pens photo by ralichte


Crowd with Pen Car photo by Pargon

John Lennon and His Rolls-Royce Art Car

Originally the car was painted matt black overall but John got tired of it and in April of 1967, visited J.P. Fallon Limited, a coachworks company located in Chertsey, Surrey. They then commissioned "The Fool" - a Dutch team of gypsy artists, to paint the car "psychedelic" at a cost of �2,000 (or about $4,200 Cdn).

John�s newly painted psychedelic car drew some public outrage when a old woman, in London�s downtown, attacked the car using her umbrella and yelling: "You swine, you swine! How dare you do this to a Rolls-Royce." Obviously, the Rolls-Royce is passionately regarded in England as one of the many symbols of British dignity!

This is one car we won't be seeing in any of the parades, and by far the most expensive and famous art cars that was bought for $2,299,000 in 1985 by Mr. Jim Pattison�s Ripley International Inc. for exhibition at Ripley�s "Believe It Or Not" museum.

John Lennon's car is featured in more detail in this tribute youtube video of him and his Rolls-Royce, with the "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" sound track

The Plaidmobile by Tim McNally

The Plaidmobile by Tim McNally

Photo by Harrod Blank

The Plaidmobile is a 1985 Buick SkyHawk with a plaid custom paint job. Tim resides in NY and spent a 2-3 years trying to change the official color of the color throught the DMV from"red" to "plaid". This car has been driven all over the country and is also featured in Harrod Blanks book on Art Cars.
Check out Tim's other car on Flikr as well:)