Dirty Car Art
Scott Wade of San Marcos, Texas, thought he could
do better than write “Wash Me” on the backside of
a dusty car. He started drawing caricatures. His
father was a cartoonist of sorts and had taught him
to draw funny faces. It was Wade’s idea to make a
dirty car window his canvas.
“For the last 20 years living on a dirt road,” he says,
“there’s always dirt on my car.”
With the sun baking it, the dirt takes about two
weeks to form a stable work surface. Wade began,
like anyone else, by using his finger, and then tried
popsicle sticks. To introduce shading, he decided
to use brushes. Over time he developed a range of
techniques, which included using plants and rubber
paint-shaper tools.
Photograph by Kim Dow
Wade particularly likes the dirt of central Texas,
where crushed limestone mixed with clay serves as
a road base.
“It makes the perfect dirt,” he says. “It’s very light-colored and the contrast is great against the dark
shadow inside the car.”
As he got more requests to create his Dirty Car
Art in public, he realized that he had to figure out
how to dust up a car himself. Now, he can prepare a
car in minutes using a light coating of oil and pyro-lite, a less toxic alternative to fuller’s earth.
At the Austin Maker Faire in 2007, Wade dusted up
his Toyota and created Monsters from the Movies,
featuring the Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman. The next day he painted
a tribute to Willie Nelson that included Waylon
Jennings. “After a good rain,” he says, “it appears
to wash off, but in a couple days it comes back in a
ghostly form.”
Recently, he was asked to draw Biff Henderson for
the David Letterman show. In addition to portraits,
he enjoys dusting up the old masters. “I have this
grandiose idea of parking cars all the way up the
ramp of the Guggenheim Museum and painting in
dirt reproductions of the pieces that are on the wall
next to it.”
—Dale Dougherty
>> Dirty Car Art: dirtycarart.com
Make: 23
