Cadillac Ranch goes Down Under

Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, Texas, has inspired a number of imitations in recent years.

First, you have Bug Ranch in Conway, Texas.

Then there was Combine City in rural Amarillo.

Then there was Airstream Ranch in Dover, Fla.

Now, according to The Land farming magazine, a fellow in Australia is using old utility vehicles, or utes, for an art project. And you may have guessed where he got the idea:

Burrawang West Station owner, Graham Pickles, is collecting old utes, having them painted by well-known Aussie artists and then dumping them back in the paddocks of his Ootha property, between Parkes and Condobolin.

His inspiration came in Texas, while driving the celebrated US highway.

“In the middle of nowhere we came across Cadillac Ranch,” he said.

“They had 10 cadillacs buried up to their windscreens.” […]

The first piece, Circle Work, completed by famous outback artist, John Murray, Lightning Ridge, features a flock of galahs at play on a 1971 Holden HQ towed through the air by a sculptured galah.

It is one of three pieces in the paddock (another is Epitaph To Fossil Fuels, by Shane Gerlhert), but Graham expects three more to be added by the end of August and 12 to be standing in the paddock by the project’s completion around Christmas.

It’s being done with the hope of drawing more tourists to the rural region.

The project has a Web site, called Utes in the Paddock.

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