Catalogue Heavy Metal Parking Lot

Olaf Mooij is an artist whose has focused upon the car as a subject matter since the late 90s. It was in that decade that he developed a reputation as an artist who modified cars in a variety of ways, many of which allowed the cars to be presented outside traditional gallery spaces; at festivals and public gatherings. Mooij’s use of latex in this work evokes the sculptures or several post-minimal artists, and the distinctive flaccidity of the form seems to contribute further to this sense of the car as (deflated) phallic signifier.

Some notes from Mooij are useful in considering his approach; “Every car has its own personality that stems from its design. Literally, a face is created by seeing the lamps as the eyes and the grill as the mouth. The bodywork forms the skull. Each car is representative of a specific time period and a specific group of users. For many people, a car is alive and those people sometimes have the greatest difficulty in getting rid of their car. My father also regarded the car as a living companion and always said to our car after a long drive: "Well done boy" and patted the hood in a friendly manner.”

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