The present Arthur "Art" Fitzpatrick & Van Kaufman collaborative
automobile ad painting goes beyond motoring culture and ventures deeply
into the realm of fine art. It would not go too far to say that , Art
Fitzpatrick may be the titularless father of Photo Realism. His painting
of the Pontiac Ventura is a visually striking, photorealistic airbrush
work characterized by shiny chrome, snappy color and reflective glass,
demonstrating Fitzpatrick's technical mastery and predating and perhaps
inspiring the Photo-Realism art movement of the late 1960s. Of
particular note is the work of the renowned photorealist artist Robert
Bechtle, whose paintings focus on shiny cars. The other artist of this
tag team painting is Van Kaufman, who deftly renders the background and
figural group in a looser Post-Impressionist style. Why are Fitzpatrick
and Kaufman not fine art superstars whose work hangs in every major
museum? It's because the museum bias favors so-called fine art over
commercial art, even if the commercial artists may have inspired a major
American art movement. The great car illustrators commissioned by major
brands, in this case GM, were master craftsmen and brilliant artists,
yet they were overlooked, understudied, and ignored until now. With
"Pontiac Ventura Advertisement," Fitzpatrick and Kaufman are launched
into the fine art world and will most likely receive tepid attention
from major museum curators who have little curiosity beyond the current
crop of young, ultra-contemporary artists, most of whom, at best, are
derivative artists.
Another highly creative aspect of this painting
is its collaborative nature, where two artists with different styles
come together to create a work that seamlessly unifies their styles;
Photo-Realism and Post Impressionism.
The
present car advertisement is unsigned, incorporates collage elements,
and is framed under plexiglass to a size of 26.75 x 31.25. The present
work is published on page 18 of the 1966 Pontiac brochure