Carter Osterbind III
American,
born 1943
Paved, Run-Over Car
1986
From the Alabama Print Portfolio
Object Type:
Print
Dimensions:
8 7/8 in. x 13 5/8 in. (22.54 cm x 34.61 cm)
Medium and Support:
Soft-ground etching on paper
Accession Number:
1986.0007.0015
Credit Line:
Gift of the University of Montevallo
"Paved, Run-Over Car" is part of a series of works by painter and printmaker Carter Osterbind III that explore the landscape of roads in an expressive and almost abstract manner. However, Osterbind's interest is not in depicting true landscape; instead, he uses the idea of the pavement as "a formal flattening device."
In this etching, Osterbind depicts scattered auto parts in the center of the composition. The background features a mountainous landscape, while the artist creates broad, curving tire tracks that sweep horizontally across the foreground. Playing with perspective and working in a Neo-Expressionist manner, the artist creates a scene that is simultaneously realistic and dreamlike.