From the Road

The Art of Graffiti and Public Art at Cadillac Ranch 

Amarillo, TX

Our historic route 66 trip so far has been incredible, we have crossed through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico arriving in Arizona yesterday. The sights we have seen have been a treat for the eyes, we took time to stop and take in some museums and route 66 attractions as we push on toward our destination of the Grand Canyon and Sedona, AZ. 

Here you see my kids enjoying the opportunity to leave their own mark with spray paint cans at the famed Cadillac Ranch. This public art arrangement of 10 vintage Cadillacs is the 1974 creation of Stanley Marsh, the helium millionaire who owns the wheat field where it stands, and The Ant Farm, a San Francisco art collective including Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels. The Cadillacs represent the "Golden Age" of American Auotomobiles (1949-1963) and are half buried, nose down, facing west at the same angle as the Cheops pyramids. The piece is a statement about the paradoxical simultaneous American fascinations with both a "sense of place" and roadside attractions, along with the mobility and freedom of the automobile.

Stanley Marsh, the patron of the project, is the local millionaire. He is well known in the city for long time patronage of artistic endeavors including the Cadillac Ranch, Floating Mesa, and Amarillo Ramp, a work of well known land artist Robert Smithson.