Filed under: Etc., Toys, Lifestyle
Auto Art: little cars meet their little ends at little trees
So we've told you about slow motion car crashes, a Warhol painting of pictures of a car crash that sold for $71 million, and of course there's always Lindsay Lohan creating her own life-sized crash-themed art. Now we present John Rooney, a Boston artist who creates set pieces of small, intricately detailed cars that have met their ends at the trunks of Bonsai trees.
It's called Crash Bonsai (or "art," take your pick), and Rooney doesn't spare any time in their creation. The cars aren't simply hurtled into Bonsais -- oh no -- "each model is unique, and individually disassembled, cut, melted, filed, smash, then reassembled to replicate a real fender bender." What's also cool is their versatility, as the little vehicles also "look great on coffee tables, kitchen counters, smashing into lamps and toasters." (However, as a Bostonite, Rooney should know what a "fender bender" is... and he should know a car plowing into a tree doesn't really qualify.)
There's a variety of cars to choose from, from a 1940 BMW 328 to a PT Cruiser, or you can commission your own. Prices start at $50 (minus the Bonsai or other immovable object of your choice). As much as we want to raise our eyebrows, we have to admit that it's... kinda like watching... a car crash... and we just can't turn away. Remember when they used to show these kinds of things in driver's ed videos as something you wanted to avoid? Yeah. Now it's merchandise. Vive la revolucion.
[Source: Winding Road]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MK 5:56PM (11/24/2007)
Some people just have too much time on their hands.
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John 10:56PM (11/24/2007)
like you
dan 6:06PM (11/24/2007)
^ Art is a profession, artists spend their lives making stuff like this, though I think that price is quite cheap considering how much work goes into something like that. I like it, but I think Mr. Rooney should study car crashes a bit more closely, because is some damage on that Beetle that I don't know where it may have come from.
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Will 6:08PM (11/24/2007)
I think I want a PT Cruisier crashing into an Aztek. Can I get that on fire too?
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seoultrain 6:35PM (11/24/2007)
wow, i thought these things would be useless until I read your post.
AZ 1:24AM (11/25/2007)
+1
Bert 7:10PM (11/24/2007)
You can find more here...
http://www.wreckedexotics.com/newphotos/art/
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Darren 6:47AM (11/25/2007)
Way cool!!
I think I may have to try my hand at this.....
Louis Duran 8:48PM (11/24/2007)
Cool! There is a soft spot in my heart for detail-oriented people who dedicate illogical amounts of time to silly little things like this.
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GT 11:45PM (11/24/2007)
how about a scaled replica of that enzo that got cut in half by a lamp post in California?
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Mobius_1 8:27AM (11/25/2007)
And a bunch of angry car-lovers stoning the driver to death out of anguish of another ruined, one-of-a-kind exotic supercar? (THAT would be kinda cool(in a way))
barry 12:21AM (11/25/2007)
hey. I wonder if a 1984 baby blue monte ss wrapped around one sideways the size of a pencil is available..Proportiantely to my actual scene, the bonzai couldn't be small enough to portray how pathetic it really was.
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Chris W 1:55AM (11/25/2007)
This is funny!
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Darren 6:44AM (11/25/2007)
Some people just do not understand art. They should not even comment on it if they do not understand it.
I think this is great. I would love to have one for my greenhouse.
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Richard Warren 8:23AM (11/25/2007)
Cool, love it.
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Mobius_1 8:25AM (11/25/2007)
Crash a Prius!!!
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Sean Morris 11:40AM (11/25/2007)
Crash a bunch of Prius into each other in the slow lane.
porschedevotee 3:03PM (11/25/2007)
If they were a little less, I'd probably get some as Christmas presents for some of my friends. Everyone could do with a little reminder now and then of their own stupidity. Wonder if you can get the damage customized? :)
Oh, and the cheapest I saw was $75, not $50
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w 4:23PM (11/26/2007)
Love it. So painstakingly detailed, so tiny, and so funny. I want one.
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pjmducks6 4:32PM (11/26/2007)
Could he do a miniature of Air Force 1 crashing with Bush and Cheney on it?
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