Strauss & co - 8 October 2009, Cape Town

168 302 Stanley Pinker S OUTH A FRICAN 1924- Man and Car signed and dated 91, inscribed with the title and the artist’s address on the reverse oil and mixed media on canvas 168 by 138cm R150 000 – 200 000 LITERATURE Michael Stevenson, Stanley Pinker, Cape Town, 2004, p 72, illus no 50. ‘The uniform of the racing driver and the car were inspired by an image I saw in an AA leaflet. It struck me how racing cars are sponsored by big corporations and how a driver and motorcar are often treated in the same way, as objects. As a reference to the sponsor, I have included a little oil can made by the anonymous company: the car and driver are in effect mobile advertisements for the oil tin. Which is the most important – the tin, the driver or the car? You will notice that the oil can is empty, about to be thrown away as the contents have been used. Are the car and driver also disposable? One doesn’t get any sense of the driver as a person. His face is covered by a helmet, he is merely number ‘8’, the same number as the car. His individuality has been consumed by the corporate body.’