C O P Y C A T
Winner of the
coveted Most Cluttered with Stuff Award
at the '99 Seattle Art Car Blow-Out was Copy Cat, a
masterpiece of collecting and composition by our neighbor to the north, Ken Gerberick, who
drove the van all the way from northern British Columbia to be at the Blow-Out.
Ken deserves an additional award for service beyond the call of duty, for he also brought
his second art car, Frivolous Niece (a Chevette covered
with car emblems and logos, and with a miniature junkyard installed on the hood) from his
hometown of Vancouver, B.C. In the Parade, Ken piloted the Chevette while Theresa Neinas
did the honors behind the wheel of this formidable Ford Econoline.
Copy Cat is so named because each discreet panel of the van pays
tribute to a different famous art car by another artist. There is a section covered with
smiley faces, a panel of leopard spots, a panel of cameras, a
panel of corks; a door of plastic fruit; sections covered with bottle caps, license
plates, Canadian pennies, tree bark, Lego blocks, toy tanks, Buddha
statues, etc., etc. There is even a section of miscellaneous logos and emblems, some
of them ingeniously cut apart and reassembled to spell words which will make the viewer do
a double-take, honoring his own creation, Frivolous Niece.
This is a vehicle photographers should beware of... if you let it, it will consume roll after roll of film in detail shots. Ken Gerberick is an award-winning professional sculptor from Vancouver, Canada. He has made some 20 Art Cars including Mal Iraq, Frivolous Niece, the Hub Cap Car and, in collaboration with his lover Janis, the Daisy Wagon and Buick of Unconditional Love.
