Cadillac Ranch evolution over 50 years is 'both interesting and odd' to Ant Farm artist
The Amarillo Museum of Art opened its newest exhibition, “Cadillac Ranch at 50,” on Friday. The exhibition features Wyatt McSpadden's photography chronicling the evolution of Cadillac Ranch.
McSpadden started his career as a photographer for Stanley Marsh 3’s sponsored project, the Cadillac Ranch, which has become the best-known landmark in Amarillo. Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez, and Doug Michels, also known as the Ant Farm art collective, created the unique art installation.
Now a freelance photographer living in Austin, McSpadden spoke about the exhibition and his photography of the Cadillac Ranch throughout the years.
“It has been such an amazing experience photographing the Cadillac Ranch,” he said. “I had done a picture of the Cadillac Ranch in December of 2021, which I thought was really cool. I sent it to Chip Lord in San Francisco as a hello, and he called and talked to me about the 50th anniversary coming up and we should do something for it. I thought it was a great idea, and we spoke with Alex Gregory, the curator here, and he agreed to do it.”
McSpadden worked through his many years of photos featuring the art installations over the past two and a half years, scanning, printing, and shooting new photos. About half of the photos were shot on film, with the rest being shot digitally.
When asked if he had any idea of what the Cadillac Ranch would become when he took the initial photos of the installation, McSpadden said he had no idea it would become the phenomenon that it has today with people coming from across the world to see it.
“I was just working for Stanley Marsh doing a variety of chores,” he said. “I had an interest in photography, but I had not really pursued it. As things evolved, Ant Farm proposed this project to Stanley Marsh. They showed up sometime in the spring of 1974 looking for cars to bury, and I was invited out to take pictures when they purchased their first car that went into the ground. I was just a kid who barely knew how to use a camera at 22 years old, and now, 50 years later, I had no idea I would be standing here with my photos as part of an exhibition on the project. I spent much of my youth exploring this museum.”
One wall of the exhibition featured visitors to the Cadillac Ranch from across the nation and the world. McSpadden said he featured these pictures to show what the exhibit has grown to with interest from around the world.
“I came out for a couple of days and just took pictures of interesting people and explained to them the original purpose of the Cadillac Ranch, which was a tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin," he said. "I was struck when I returned and went back to look at the pictures that everyone was smiling. I have shot all kinds of different things, but this was special since I was there when they put it in the ground in the beginning. I moved away from Amarillo in 1992, but I shot so much of the Cadillac Ranch in the time I was here, it was a memorable experience to come out here and take pictures. I got lucky many times with weather and other events that made for very interesting shots.”
McSpadden said that choosing a favorite shot was like choosing a favorite child. He said among his favorites are his early shots that had cattle around the Cadillacs.
“It was just a magical afternoon with a herd around the cattle, and I just did not want to scare them away,” he said. “I also like my shots of each of the 10 Cadillacs individually. The interesting thing to me over the last two and half years was that I never got turned off looking at these photos. They have held up very well. I am so grateful that the Amarillo Museum of Art said yes to this. This is a great trip down memory lane over 50 years ago. Now, I still have that 22-year-old me here in some capacity.”
Chip Lord, a member of the Ant Farm Art Collective, spoke about the exhibition, which includes videos done by him.
“We met Stanley Marsh through an artist correspondence network where he sent out gigantic, decorated envelopes,” he said. “This is a beautiful retrospective, and it's appropriate that we have it here at the Amarillo Museum of Art.”
Lord says upon seeing the current state of the Cadillac Ranch, it is not the same art project that was it was upon conception.
“To me, it's not the Cadillac Ranch; that was what it was when we completed it in 1974,” Lord said. “When we completed this, it was so important that know every detail of each of the 10 cars was visible as you stood right next to them. Now, the paint is so thick that these cars have become abstract objects. The idea of painting on cars obviously drives most visitors. To me, that was never the original idea.”
He says seeing this morphing of what the art project was to what it is now is remarkably interesting.
“It is both interesting and odd to me; it is kind of understandable as it has become much more popular than we ever imagined it could become,” he said. “It is a different object now. It is not really an artwork anymore in my mind. The project that brought me to Amarillo in the first place has brought me back many times. The Amarillo Museum of Art has done an excellent job bringing this project to fruition.”
The exhibition will be displayed at the Amarillo Museum of Art through Aug. 25.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Cadillac Ranch at 50 exhibit shows evolution of original installation
