The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles will open an exhibition next month on J Mays, Ford Motor Company’s vice president of global design.
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“Retrofuturism: The Car Design of J Mays” is said to be the first comprehensive museum exhibition devoted to the work of an American car designer.
Organised by MOCA curator of architecture and design Brooke Hodge, the show will bring together concept cars, development models, video footage, new photography and original drawings that illustrate the process behind Mays’ work.
It will also include the public unveiling of Mays’ most recent concept car, the Ma, which is conceived as a kit of parts to be assembled into a futuristic hot rod.
Hodge believes the term “retrofuturism” describes how Mays takes an iconic car from the past, which evokes strong feelings and cultural associations, and rethinks the vehicle for a contemporary market.
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By GlobalData“Mays’ incorporation of retrofuturism into his creative process has enabled him to draw from the past and design for the future, while remaining firmly grounded in the present,” said Hodge. “This exhibition makes it possible to consider Mays-designed cars as design objects in their own right.”
The exhibition is opens from November 17 to March 9 2003 at The Geffen Contemporary, 152 North Central Avenue in Los Angeles.
Since joining Ford in October 1997, Mays has completed the development of several new models including the 2002 Thunderbird, Forty-Nine concept car and GT40, which all take their inspiration from classic models of the past.
Mays previously worked for Volkswagen-Audi and BMW. His work prior to Ford includes the prototype Volkswagen Beetle and the Audi Avus which inspired the design direction of many of Audi’s cars now on the road, including the TT coupe and cabriolet. The Avus was named for a 1930s grand-prix racetrack in Berlin.
