Larry Warsh eludes the stereotypes you think of when you envision an art collector. Warsh found his start as a publisher and art enthusiast in the ‘80s art scene of New York City. As such, he's not one to pursue Caravaggios and Van Goghs – Warsh favors contemporary artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.
His art car collection features over 70 vehicles painted and modified by artists including Rashid Johnson, Barbara Kruger, and Marina Abramović. He's also the driving force behind CART Department and its popular Instagram account, @cartdept, which highlights the custom cars of pop stars and rap artists, as well as car culture more broadly.
TND's Tyler Roland interviewed Warsh in a conversation that explored topics including Kendrick Lamar's worship of the Buick GNX and Warsh's wild Maybach featured in the music video for Ye and Jay-Z's "Otis".
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tyler @ TND: Which resonates with you more – rappers flexing the “regular” cars they first drove before they made it big (see: Ludacris’ Acura Legend, J. Cole’s Civic), or the colorful exotics favored by the likes of Travis Scott and Tyler, the Creator?
Larry Warsh: Rappers collect cars in the same way that some people collect art. One of their personas gets developed by the cars they accumulate, and I think that's interesting – cars become a successful representation of their curation and taste. Not necessarily all supercars; some will have fancy cars, and others will have things that they grew up with.
A lot of the art cars in your collection stem from the artists' backgrounds, their birth year, or something one of their relatives had, so you might prefer the more humble cars that these guys are first driving when they start out.
If I had a Lamborghini or a Ford pickup truck from an artist, I would pick the Ford. Anyone could buy a Lamborghini or Ferrari... it's that personal connection to the artist, whether it's a car their parents had, the first car they owned, or the first car they had sex in. All of these create a non-consumer, non-financial connection with a vehicle, a pure connection. I like that, and I look for that.
When Kendrick Lamar took the Buick GNX – a real "if you know, you know" '80s muscle car – and elevated it to another level of iconic with his album and Super Bowl performance, I felt like I was watching a car become art in real time. What are your thoughts on that phenomenon?
Kendrick used that car as a symbol of our times, elevating it to another level – parallel to the "Otis" music video, and the [2022] halftime performance with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick that included custom lowriders. That entire segment was amazing. The artist who created that, Es Devlin, is a brilliant creator and incredible set designer.
Frank Ocean, of course, has done a lot with cars, and look at Don Toliver now...
...with Octane.
It's natural, almost like an attachment. Just as an artist employs the paintbrush to communicate, the car transforms into a tool of communication, and a certain marking of time for a future generation. One hundred years from now, people will look at these cars and how they mark time.
Kendrick says his dad drove him home from the hospital in a Buick Grand National.
I didn't know that. So, if I saw Kendrick, and I said "hey, Kendrick, what kind of car would you want to do?" – that's exactly the type of connection that an artist will have with their choice of car. [The Buick's] obviously not a Lamborghini, Ferrari, or Bugatti. It's a basic, cool muscle car that shines from the historical connection to Kendrick.
The Virgil Abloh G-Wagon of yours. which you got from Sotheby's, is one of the ultimate art pieces you have, since it’s a model of the real thing. He did a pretty radical interpretation of the G-Wagon, erasing its off-road aesthetic.
Do you think that custom cars are better driven hard for videos and promotion, or left static as set design, and maybe rolled a few miles an hour, like your model?
I wouldn't say set design, I would say art pieces – they become works of sculpture. If the Keith Haring car was smashed up, there would be no way to fix that original work. The cars turn into iconic, historical sculptures, rather than cars in motion. Some of the cars can still operate, but we remove the fluids so we can display them in museums. The Keith Haring car is going to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas this June for the "Keith Haring In 3D" exhibit. The car is a sculpture, consistent with Haring's practice of drawing on objects.
What's the story on the car Quavo did for your collection? [Ed. Note: You can see Quavo painting his car in the CART video at the start of this article.]
He did a Mercedes. We just happened to have a nice car for him, which he liked. He really enjoyed our space. He's a nice guy, a really good person, and a straight shooter.
The car with the biggest musical claim to fame in your armada has to be the chopped-up Maybach used by Jay-Z and “Ye” West in the “Otis” video. How’d you end up acquiring that?
I remember that car when it was first auctioned at Phillips [de Pury & Company] auction house, for a charity. I didn't pay attention to it, because I wasn't really focusing on that kind of car.
Then my kids said "what about the 'Otis' car?" I didn't know how important it was. So I said "my friend at the auction house sold it." I inquired about it and, later, she called me back: "I found the owner" – a woman who bought it for her son. The car was sitting in a garage in Long Island, because she had bought it for her college kid. We went back and forth a little bit, and then I acquired it. Because my kids are very tuned into culture, they turned me onto it. Funny story – but whatever it was, I needed to have that car.
So would you say that's your favorite car from a music video?
Yes. I think it's among the most famous in music history.
Tell me a bit more about Shepard Fairey’s 1937 Packard, which features lyrics from hip-hop on one side, punk on the other. [Listen to the playlist Shepard curated for his car below.]
We talked about different choices, and I showed him a couple of things. That design resonated with him. Shepard is a brilliant communicator, a brilliant artist, and a caring person. Shepard has a really big history in music.
His Led Zeppelin art I know very well.
Led Zeppelin, and a whole range of images from all over the place. The Misfits, hip-hop, Bob Marley, and everything in between.
Do you think that hip-hop has taken over the car from the rock world, and the likes of old Beach Boys, Springsteen, and ZZ Top songs?
A hundred percent. Not just taking over cars, I think hip-hop is the genre of our times. It's not rock and roll, it's not Neil Young, it's not Joni Mitchell. Hip-hop is this generation's music, and it commands new audiences and cars.
Tell me the story of how you and Pharrell Williams traded BMWs for some art. What's the story behind those cars? Who ended up with what?
Pharrell's an amazing person. I did a book with him – it's called Pharrell-isms, published by No More Rulers in collaboration with Princeton University Press. I was involved with his auction company called Joopiter. My friend told me about the cars from the shoot [in support of the 2017 N.E.R.D. album No One Ever Really Dies]. Pharrell also likes this South African artist, Esther Mahlangu. She's 90 years old, internationally celebrated, and collected by John Legend and Swizz Beatz, among others.
I ended up swapping him seven Mahlangu paintings for the BMWs. They're part of a set, in five different colors. That was a mutual, easy thing, and now those paintings will be lent to a museum show. It's kind of nice.
What does the art car mean to you?
The art car unites two worlds that are often seen as very separate. I’m an art enthusiast, and I’m constantly looking forward to seeing the new ideas and unexpected materials that artists will use for their vehicles. If you’re a car lover, these works of art offer new, diverse ways of thinking about the automobile as a means of creative expression.
In the future, who knows what form transportation will take, or how these art cars will be viewed. In any case, these creations will live on, and hopefully inspire coming generations as they inspire you and I today.
All photos, except for the header, by the author.
