Art ? Pretentious bollox more like. I am a pensioner, and I've been on this planet long enough to have seen many examples of "art" of this sort of genre, so this is not a knee-jerk response. Artists seem sadly to be incapable of distinguishing between something which has not been done before, and something which is new and creative. The two are not the same. There are loads of things I can do that have never been done before. That of itself doesn't make the act particularly creative, and certainly not "art". Fiat 500s are widely and fondly regarded, as the artist rightly says, and they have been stylised in two dimensions graphically many thousands of times in many media - paintings, embroidery, ceramics, wood inlay (marquetry?) and so on. Cars have also been crushed before, and crushed cars as an art form is neither not new. I recall a crushed Edsel as an art exhibit way back in the sixties. So the artist is just plain wrong to think he has created anything particularly novel or art-worthy. As a matter of historical fact, he has not. He says "we are not destroying the cars, we are immortalising them". Hmm, well to me the very fact he says "we" and not "I" gives the lie to this. Any artist proud of his work generally is only too keen to claim all the merit for himself. Why then does he seek to spread the responsibility with this "we" ? Who are these other people in "we" ? It is quite clear that his claim is defensive nonsense. The cars are obviously destroyed, and have no need of his "immortalising" since the 500 has long ago and for all time achieved that status. He goes on to rationalise his actions by reference to his father's accident in which his [father's] life is allegedly saved by virtue of the Topolino being made of wood - and "thus his interest in metal was born". Excuse me ? Can someone please explain to me that reasoning ? You experience a lifesaving event associated with wood and it gives you inspiration in metal ?? How does that work ? Sorry, this doesn't wash. It is, in my view, pretentious bollox after the event. He acknowledges the cars as being a national Italian treasure, so he should not be surprised if many people see through his veneer for the crude wanton vandalism that in my view it is. Art it may be, but in very bad taste. I said I have seen this sort of thing before. And what I have seen is that ten years from now this "art" will be regarded as just some forgotten scrap gathering dust is some equally forgotten warehouse before eventually being quietly consigned to the local municipal skip. I have seen it with Reliant Robins, Minis, Beetles... they are all cute art for five minutes, and then landfill ever after. Real cars restored and preserved in real museums tend to last substantially longer, and for substantially better reasons. They really *are* art.
