Elements of the Art Installation

Photographs by DIANA SANCHEZ

Diana’s capability of capturing and representing the warm and playful sociality of the auto shop comes from her way of working with Speed and other mechanics. Diana spent weeks getting to know Speed, Ralus, John, Tom, and other regulars at Enthusiast Automotive before she started taking their photographs. She made connections with the mechanics and found ways to relate to them by the little conversations with photos in between the moments she spoke with them.

Video by DAVON RAMOS

Davon’s poignant video portrait of Speed draws on his strength as a considerate cameraman and as an astute interviewer. As he was filming, Davon was careful not to overburden the mechanics working on cars. His filming style represents a dignified approach that is not always inherent in the mere act of pointing a video camera. His compelling questions drew an eloquent and poetic story from the mechanics about their lives in the East Bay. Currently, Davon is working on video portraits of Ralus Rogers and John Terry.

Paintings and Drawings by DANIEL GALLEGOS

Daniel contributed a series of watercolor drawings and oil paintings that he had done over the course of his two-year interaction with Enthusiast Automotive and its surrounding neighborhood. Daniel’s artworks convey his interest in social and material relationships between buildings, cars, car parts and people. He expressed the aesthetic and affective qualities of working on classic cars.

Sculpture by JAMES CROSBY

For James, the work in which the Enthusiast Automotive mechanics were engaged was familiar on many different levels, including the fact that both were creatively recycling old car parts. As his contribution to the installation, James offered a piece produced from Ralus’s old car parts. His gesture of making a heart out of old tires was poetic, touching, and wildly popular among many visitors attending the show.

Texts by Zhanara Nauruzbayeva and Daniel Gallegos

Along with these artworks, we have featured short meditative pieces on the Enthusiast Automotive auto shop.

“Maintaining Used Cars in the Age of Disposable Products”

“Restoration of Automobiles as Art Form”

“Community-oriented Commerce”

We have also displayed a photo installation of Speed’s portfolio.

Art Exhibit inside the Auto Shop

On July 23, 2011, we had an opening for the “Diagnostics” art exhibit at Enthusiast Automotive. Installing and displaying the artworks inside the auto shop has been part of our method. Not only have we created artworks in collaboration with Speed and other mechanics but we have also installed artworks directly inside the social and material environment on which they were drawing. In this way, Davon Ramos’s video was projected inside the garage, right next to the work spaces for fixing cars. Visitors could simultaneously see the sculpture, paintings and photographs, and smell the oil, gasoline and rusting metal. Along with viewing the installation, visitors could see the cars and ask questions from Speed and Ralus. Frank played music inspired by car culture. One can hear the sounds of the shop while viewing the very art that was inspired by the mechanics. All these elements were part of one giant installation. A number of people came from the surrounding neighborhood. Tiffany who lived across the street from the workshop shared her stories of Speed always calling and warning her about street cleaning days and thus saving her from expensive parking tickets. She brought along her 8-year-old son, Miles, and her mother.

The exhibit is available for viewings (Mon-Fri) at the auto shop for the next few months.

On Collaboration

When we started talking to Speed about the upcoming exhibit, he said that he already started working on repairing the space for the exhibition. We proceeded to the room, and he showed us the progress that has been done on the space. He was fixing the walls that had been water damaged and repainting them. Daniel and I said that we could start helping with preparing the space too. With Daniel finishing work and me filing the dissertation, we could now engage with the project full-time. We agreed that we would meet after July 4^th.

One of the experiments of this project has been to develop meaningful ways of working together with Speed and other mechanics. Daniel said that it was his personal challenge to figure out how to work out an artwork where he could work together with Speed. One of his ideas was to have a painting that looked kind of like the body of a car that is being sanded and repainted. When he shared this idea with Speed, Speed deliberated and responded “You may be overthinking it.” Instead, he suggested something simpler. Speed said that over the years he had been documenting his body work. He wondered if the final project between them could draw on this collection of images.

–Zhanara

Saving Cars

Yesterday, Daniel and I dropped by Speed’s workshop. It is three weeks before our final exhibit on Saturday, July 23^rd, and we are trying to round up our work. It was a hot Friday afternoon, and we heard the noise of sanding metal as we pulled up by the autoshop. Speed was the only one in the shop, working on a part of a car. As soon as we entered, he stopped the work and greeted us. Daniel spotted a new addition in the yard, a beautiful old Barracuda. The car was old and ragged but still retaining the beautiful contours and a large sloping back window. Speed said that somebody from the neighborhood gave up the car to him. The man told Speed that it was his brother’s car. The brother passed away and never finished working on it. So, the man decided that the most appropriate person to inherit this car would be Speed.

I thought that this was the most poignant gesture. On the one hand, Speed saved the car from its imminent death in a junk yard. Even though his lot was filled with other similar ongoing car projects, he could not bear for it to go to waste. On the other hand, it was moving that this man had known about Speed and his compassion for old beautiful cars and went through a lot of effort to find Speed and to pass on to him this legacy of his brother.

–Zhanara

Restoration of Automobiles as Art Form

Restoration of automobiles is an artistic practice. To make the cars look new requires the mechanic to have the imagination of a sculptor. One has to be able to envision forms and shapes before they exist materially. To rebuild automobiles after collisions means to reconstruct the crumpled and bent pieces of metal back into its original shape. Furthermore, this bodywork requires the hands of an artist. In the process of rebuilding, a mechanic hammers out and straightens all the creases and crevasses into a flat surface. Following this step, the mechanic coats the metal with a layer of “Bondo” putty to create an even smoother surface. After painting the car frame with a primer, the mechanic polishes the body with wet sand. Some repeat this procedure of priming and wet-sanding as many as three times. The best painting job is one where the mechanic was able to create a surface with depth. The making of these surfaces involves the visual and sensory perceptions of the mechanic rather than any automatized measurement. All these steps are embodied practices where mechanics use their hands and their eyes to restore the shape of the car back into life.

The mechanic’s aesthetic sensibilities extend far beyond car surfaces. They also appreciate and cultivate the craft involved in the making of internal car parts. One day, we saw Speed finishing up his work on the parts of an old Porsche engine. He was cleaning, painting, and drying the parts, which all looked like oversized black crystal jewelry. These parts could remind one of Minimalist sculptures. Speed explained that such concern for craft was one of the key aspects of Porsche automobiles: the car was well-designed and beautiful both on the outside and inside.

The Enthusiast Automotive mechanics belong to the larger community of people for whom the maintenance of their cars is a creative endeavor. These people restore and rebuild their cars into even more fantastic versions of what they used to be at the assembly line. They add new rims, enhance tires, or otherwise customize wheels; modify engines, switch to chrome components, repaint the body, or integrate large stereo systems. For many, such personalization of their cars is an on-going project. These classic car aficionados attend pick-and-pulls and swap meets, and browse the Internet and junkyards. They engage in creative ways of constructing automobiles at a minimal cost from parts collected in various places.

Community-oriented Commerce

The Enthusiast Automotive shop operates based on distinct principles. The dominant model of corporate business-making has emphasized profit at the expense of the community. The stories of greedy company executives, dismantled worker unions, and the outsourced labor are abounding today. Against this backdrop, Speed manages a business that supports the livelihood of his staff and contributes to the well-being of his community.

Speed is the only official employee at the workshop. His collaborators, Ralus, Rigo, Jorge, and John, are long-time friends and colleagues that have intermittently joined the workshop at various moments of their lives. Ralus Rogers had been working as a large truck and tractor mechanic until he was laid off a few years ago. He started coming to the autoshop to work on his own cars and helped Speed with working on various projects. John Terry is also an old friend of Speed’s. His specialization is the maintenance of Volkswagens. Rigo Vargas is an expert in bodywork, and helps Speed with repairing and repainting car frames. Jorge Ramirez handles projects related to upholstery of car interiors. With these people around, the workshop runs as a collective who help each other on projects. For Ralus, Rigo, Jorge, and John, the Enthusiast Automotive is a communal space that helps them to pay their bills and make ends meet during the current economic downturn. They can come here and pick up various jobs. The workshop thus has a particular labor structure, that of mutual help, camaraderie, and reciprocity.

The relationship between Speed and his customers also runs based on distinct norms. Many of his customers have personal relationships to Speed. As a result, there is a blurry line between his customers and friends. Speed charges a fair price, based on what they can or cannot afford. His pricing is less rigid, more negotiable. Overall, Speed’s business runs as a place that is more about helping a community over making individual profit.