Highway art will get a spotlight with the Petersen Automotive
Museum’s “Eyes on the Road” exhibition. (photo courtesy of J. Carter Tutwiler)

In the early decades of the 20th century, automobile ownership saw tremendous growth in the United States – with one motor vehicle per every five Americans by 1929 – and a new motoring landscape was developing to accommodate the increase in car travel. For over a century, civil engineers, automotive designers, architects and graphic artists have worked, often without credit, to create highway systems and the vehicles that traverse them, along with standardized signage and roadside amenities that have become so commonplace that they are entirely taken for granted.

Modern and contemporary artists, however, have long seen and been inspired by the world in which the automobile operates and have responded to it in their work. “Eyes on the Road” brings the often-overlooked “art” of the highway together with artistic representations of this visual culture, highlighting the role of the car in shaping the country’s built environment and drawing new attention to the world around us.

“Eyes on the Road” features artworks by Ed Ruscha, Vik Muniz, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Mr. Brainwash, Roger Kuntz and Harry Chandler. “Eyes on the Road” is curated by the Petersen Automotive Museum and guest curator Jim Farber.

The opening event for the exhibition will begin at 5 p.m. on March 29. For information, visit petersen.org/events/eyes-on-theroad-exhibition-opening. Petersen Automotive Museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Blvd.