Perfect Vehicle #1629
Allan McCollum
American, born 1944
Details
Title
Perfect Vehicle #1629
Artist/Maker
Allan McCollum (American, born 1944)
Date
1989
Medium
Acrylic on glass-fiber-reinforced concrete
Dimensions
78 x 36 x 36 inches
Credit
The Lenore and Burton Gold Collection of 20th Century Art
Accession #
1999.111
Allan McCollum conceived of his Perfect Vehicle series of works in 1979 to challenge preconceived assumptions about art by making references to precious objects such as antique porcelain. He studied different types of vases until he arrived at a shape that resembles a large ginger jar, even though it is an amalgam of many types of vessels. Each Perfect Vehicle is identical in shape and painted with commercially available house paint. It therefore lacks the elegant surface associated with ceramics and represents both the image of an art object and its archetype.