Cadillac - in Art and Sculpture

In Art and Sculpture

Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez, and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm. The art installation consists of older running Cadillac automobiles that were originally installed during 1974, and were either used or junk. It represents a number of evolutions of the car line (most notably the introduction and discontinuation of the defining feature of early Cadillacs, the tailfin) from 1949 to 1963, that are half-buried, nose-first in the ground at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The piece is a statement about the paradoxical simultaneous American fascinations with both a "sense of place" – and roadside attractions, such as The Ranch itself – and the mobility and freedom of the automobile.

A tribute to the Cadillac Ranch was featured in the Walt Disney and Pixar film Cars. The fictional town of Radiator Springs sits at the edge of an area referenced on a map as the "Cadillac Range", and throughout the movie, rock formations shaped like the upended cars can be seen as a horizon backdrop.