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Painted Tata Nano Car
122 x 58.8 x 65 (309 x 149.3 x 165)


The tradition of art cars, or automobiles whose looks and/or forms have been modified as part of an artistic project, dates back to the 1960s and counts among its patrons celebrities such as John Lennon and Janis Joplin. Apart from enthusiasts who customize their own vehicles and display them at regular art car parades and festivals, several established contemporary artists have also used cars as their canvases. Since 1975, for example, BMW has regularly invited artists to create art cars using their vehicles. These pieces by artists like Alexander Calder, Ray Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Olafur Eliasson have been displayed in several museums across the world.

The present lot, India's first art car, is an installation by contemporary Indian artist Bose Krishnamachari, created as a means to raise funds during the first iteration of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2012. Featuring a Nano, the low-cost vehicle from Tata Motors branded the 'people's car' of India, this installation reflects a spirit of inclusiveness in both its 'canvas' and its content.

Keeping in line with the Krishnamachari's well-known abstract idiom, this vivid, drivable installation evokes the myriad colours of India. Speaking about the installation, the artist notes, "The Nano Art Car is a project about colour and life. Colours can transform a body and colours can sculpt a form. The Tata Nano is India's latest economically affordable vehicle for the masses, a car fabled as the 'common man's car'. I believe that colour can play a magical role in everyday life, it shares positive vibes. For me colours represent a kind of maximum freshness, maximum depth, combining form and texture with a painterly-sculptural style that allows for maximum accidents, producing what I call the 'Maximum Abstract'. The Tata Nano is draped/wrapped in automotive colour; I would say that the Nano is protected like a 'Cocoon', in a way preserved through colour. Sometimes, my works are said to be chromo-maniac. This project represents the genesis of this idea in the form of sculptural work" (in conversation with the artist, July 2013).

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