Art in the automotive industry is nothing new, as many creative professional car body painters offer services of painting unique artwork as a distinction. Yet most car brands want to have ties in the art world in different ways, since automobiles are a class of their own in terms of craftsmanship and innovations. Many believe that their cars should be given recognition as artistic masterpieces, as they were built with sensitivity to intricate details and attention-grabbing color and contour.

Not a few leading manufacturers of popular car brands draw inspiration from adventure-loving artists when launching new models. BMW is one such automaker with its famous Art Car series featuring memorable collaborations with fine arts artists.

Other Automotive Companies that Linked Their Cars to Artists

Mercedes Benz and Andres Serrano

In 2018, in Detroit’s North American International Auto Show, a suspended 44.4-ton of synthetic amber encapsulated the iconic Mercedes Benz 1979 G-Class as display. It was the car company’s iteration of the first off-road vehicle, for which the art exhibit was aptly captioned as “Stronger Than Time.” The manufacturer made it known that the making of the amber suspension was the creative advice of large-scale photographer artist Andres Serrano.

Lexus and King Saladeen

In launching its new ES F Sport model in 2019, Lexus created a video clip that came with a narrative of how famous American streetwall artist King Saladeen shared similarities between his work and the new Lexus model. The American graffiti artists said he is driven by his aggressive use of colors and sleek lines; similar to the designing direction of the new Toyota Lexus, reflecting a more youthful and sporty appearance.

Cadillac House and the Cadillac Ranch

When this automaker transferred to Manhattan’s inexpensive neighborhood; departing from its pioneering days in Detroit’s Motor City, the car company opened the Cadillac House in 2016. It’s a public space that features art shows and events, to serve as incubator space for creative innovators. Through Cadillac House, the automaker entered into many successful brand collaborations with several well known designers like Jason Wu and photographers like Pierpaolo Ferrari.

Cadillac has always presented itself as the best example of a case study of a car manufacturing business that seeks to ingratiate itself into the world of art.

Several years ago travellers passing through Route 66 in Amarillo, Texas made it a point to visit Cadillac Ranch, which is somewhat similar to the Cadilla House. The ranch’s famous installation is a line up of spray-painted Cadillacs standing nose first and half buried in the desert. Unfortunately though, some group of people set fire to the spray painted Cadillacs.

Readers who may be looking for cars to add to their collection will find it worthwhile to take a trip to Phoenix, Arizona to visit Earnhardt Auto Centers, where they will find as many as 2,653 vehicles of which 1,997 are new while 676 are pre-loved cars. They can check out the No Bull website before making the trip to find out if their brand and type of car is available in any of the car dealer’s 17 locations in Phoenix, AZ.