Mexican artist crushes Tesla car with monumental sculpture to provoke Elon Musk

The sculptor used a crane to lower the nine-ton effigy onto a blue Tesla 3, one of the models produced by the American billionaire’s company.

“My idea was to do a work to provoke Elon Musk,” Mexican artist Chavis Marmol says of his installation: a $40,000 Tesla electric car crushed by a pre-Hispanic-inspired head on display in central Mexico.

A 42-year-old sculptor, Marmol (marble in Spanish) has never owned a car and travels by bicycle. Speaking in a joking tone with Elon Musk, the Mexican explains the meaning of his artistic approach: “Look what I do to your cool car with this amazing head, bigger than you and creepy tech

“, says the artist contacted by AFP in Spain, where he is participating in an exhibition.

“Extraterrestrial” intervention

His sculpture is inspired by the 3,000-year-old colossal heads created by the Olmecs, the oldest civilization in what is now Mexico. Remnants of the Olmec civilization can be found in the southeast of the country. In 2021, an exhibition was organized at Olmex in Paris.

The work is set in the fashionable Roma district, right in the city center. Just over a year ago, Musk “Megafactory“In Monterey, the industrial capital of the North. Some critics call this installation “Surrealist“or eligible for intervention”of the outside world“, hosted by Kolyma 71, an establishment between a classic hotel and an art center.

“$40,000 went up in smoke”

A video shows the moment the head slowly crushes the roof of the car. Batteries have been removed to prevent any incident. The first challenge was buying the car, which costs $40,000 on the used market. The name of the patron who made the installation possible has been kept secret. The next challenge was to find the stone block. With an initial weight of 12 tons, it weighs only nine tons after the artist carved the skull, wide eyes and thick lips.

Colima 71’s artistic director, Margarita Onge, assures that she “Fell in love with work“Artist’s.”What do I feel when I see this? What does Tesla mean to me? What does it mean to install a Tesla factory in Monterey? What inspires us Musk? she asks herself.

Infuriatingly, the sculptor claims he has nothing to do with seeing $40,000 go up in smoke because “It wasn’t my money“.”This is the wonderful side of art, you can allow yourself these greatnesses“. In Mexico, “VIP” art (video, installation, performance) is denounced as pretentious by the critic Evelina Lesper, who published an essay against “VIP” in 2022.The Fraud of Contemporary Art“.VIP ART A”Fake art supported by arbitrariness, economic speculation and bias“, she attacks.

“If a work of art moves you enough to feel or think, I believe it has served its purpose, and there aren’t many questions to ask about price or value.“, says Ong, in the face of possible criticism of Marmol’s work. The idea is apparently that the provocative image of a crushed Tesla reaches Elon Musk.”It will be a surprise if he sees his car“In this state, the artistic director smiles.