Brandon Kennedy
NFS
2013
1973 jaguar, private rare book collection

Developed specifically for the Dallas Museum of Art’s exhibition Boom Town Kennedy’s piece proffers a seductive slap to the entrenched values of the locale. Presenting a foreign, classic automobile as a proxy for misplaced interpretations of class Kennedy drained the car’s fluids, carefully filled the car with his rare book collection, then locked it. The elegant collectibles become inert, unread and undriven, yet infinitely more valuable as such. The unmoving vehicle becomes a mummified tomb for the inaccessible collection, much as the museum grows stagnant beneath the weight of its glorified role as a cultural icon.

~Ryder