The piece of art “Wreck” mirrors a creative interpretation of what a car looks like after being crashed. The life-size sculpture of a Mercedes-Benz S 550 is entirely made of highly polished pieces of stainless steel.
The exhibit looks as if it was built of splintered mirrors, reflecting luxury, hazard and mortality. Jordan Griska used a 3D model of the Mercedes-Benz S550 and – with the help of digital software, the artist constructed the luxury automobile-inspired piece of art. In order to keep its resemblance to the original S550, but also make the crash scene as realistic as possible, the creator put the laser-cut pieces together permanently checking online photos of car crashes.
The Brooklyn-based artist echoes the themes of American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of “The Great Gatsby”, mixing opulence with decadence. Griska also found inspiration in Any Warhol’s colored “car crash” serigraphs.
The non-functional sedan that premiered last year, integrates no less than 12,000 individual parts, all reflecting the surroundings of the life-size model.
“The sculpture mirrors the peak of today’s automobile industry by using digital technology and meticulous handcraft to subvert both utopian dreams and reality,” explains the Philadelphia Contemporary exhibition representatives in a statement about the piece. “Spectacular and haunting, Wreck captures the dual nature of American culture by contrasting wealth, freedom, and individuality with decadence, debauchery, and tailspin, as flip sides of the same coin.”
