The Cadillac Ranch...

Watch out for what oil money does.  Not too far west of Amarillo, Texas, Stanley Marsh 3 (his grandfather made a fortune in oil) created outdoor public art by burying cadillacs half-way at an angle.  This was in the 1970s and I've watched it change over the years. They've never ceased to have appeal.  The Cadillac Ranch art says something about the appeal of the road, the car, the highway and roadside attractions.  This Ranch is not to be mixed up with that other famed La Grange, Texas ranch/brothel of female artistes of the night, The Chicken Ranch, that Houston newsman Marvin Zindler, the slime finder, made famous.  That ranch evolved into the stage and film musical,  The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. 

The creativity that comes out of Texas is something to be appreciated.  Where was I.  Oh yea.

At some point the old cars began to become intensly decorated by passers-by and thus became participatory art.  It is an art experience to visit, leave your mark and have experienced art in the middle of nowhere, in the midst of the flat land and big sky with nothing -- NOTHING -- else anywhere nearby.  You'd have to go to Canyon, Texas, at the edge of Palo Duro Canyon south of Amarillo, to see the art museum (Georgia O'Keefe learned to appreciate the landscape here when she taught and the museum has some of her works) to have any similar art appreciation experience in that entire area.

Thanks to Flickr groups, if you aren't driving through the Texas Panhandle on your way to somewhere, you can still go see the Cadillac Ranch and what it offers.  Go check it out and experience art...it is almost as good as being there.  In fact, seeing it through Flickr, with the constant updates, is better than seeing it from the highway.  I love how Flickr is letting us get closer to art and see works of art that otherwise would have a very small audience.  How many people take the effort to turn off the road to enjoy the Cadillac Ranch? Now many more can see it via the 207 photos shared by 59 members of the Cadillac Ranch Flickr group?

Photo credits: top and bottom.

Comments

[Claude]

I love flickr! I had a look at the slideshow that you can see by just adding /show/ at the end of the url you provided. It's stunning.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/cadillac_ranch/pool/show/
Had never even heard about this.
Thanks

[Rhea]

I remember seeing this on my Route 66 trip a few years ago. Although we didn't go close up.

[Rural Life in America]

I had missed the article on the Cadillac ranch. In 1980 I lived in a house that was about a mile from here. Just off of the interstate.

Always Amusing - This Stanley Marsh.

Great Blog for the road Trip.