But there will be plenty of other places to buy car art…
by Wallace Wyss –
The Automotive Fine Arts Society (AFAS) tent with hardwood floors is still there right on the same green as the vaunted Pebble Beach concours but alas, they lost their precious bit of turf on the Pebble Beach green when Lincoln pulled out as sponsor.
Their show each year, a tradition for the past 30 years, was the high point in the Group’s art efforts, which included featuring guest artists from all over the world. I don’t know what’s going to be in the building instead but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s an automaker as McLaren was in the tent next to them last year.
But art aficionados going to Monterey Car Week need not despair. There is art to be bought in Monterey during Car Week at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca there is a midway of sorts and I’ve seen art there.
In the Inn at Spanish Bay, a second hotel in Pebble Beach, there is a show called Auto Retro featuring paintings, prints, sculpture, etc. I don’t think its open Concours day but it is in the days leading up to the Concours.
On Saturday, the day before Pebble Beach, there’s Concorso Italiano, with at least two art tents among 50 or more booths.
Earlier in the week, in the Embassy Suites hotel in Monterey, ending Wednesday evening, there is a show called “Automobila” with paintings, posters, prints, historic photographs, sculpture and lots of memorabilia.
Bizzarrini Spyder – art by Wallace Wyss
Still I for one will miss the AFAS as each booth during the Saturday night cocktail reception held each year had the artists present, larger than life! I fear I will never see so many of their artists together in one place again unless they find another equal-sized venue…and I will especially miss talking to the guys I met many times like Ken Dallison, Jay Koka and Ken Eberts.
Dallison I especially miss because I worked with him on a Corvette brochure–could it be–50 years ago…
Some of the artists in the AFAS did make connections with a gallery in Carmel, the New Masters Gallery, so be sure and drop by during Car Week.
I’m not in the Society but look for me at my Art & Books booth at Concorso Italiano and say “Hello.” I hope to convince the AFAS to look at Concorso for a new space to make their re-appearance for 2020 on the Peninsula en masse. It’s not Pebble Beach, I know, but hey it’s chock full of car enthusiasts arriving in town, pockets full of green, bound and determined to find a souvenir to put on their mantle when they get home..why not art?
Check out the Monterey Car Week map at this link.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
AUTHOR/ARTIST: Wallace Wyss is the author of the novel Ferrari Hunters. As a fine artist, he is offering size 20” x 30” giclee copies in oil on canvas of his Ferrari 250GTO Series II paintings. Price information from mendoart7@gmail.com.
Lamborghini Miura – Wallace Wyss Art
Pebble owns Inn at Spanish Bay is one of their three resorts and RetroAuto is their event and has been delivered for many years.