Automobiles used in art are always a questionable choice, but sometimes it works to bring some much-needed attention to different points of view or even to different causes. But a French sculptor named Natacha Mercier brought automobile art to a whole new level. She added some spice to that arena by covering a Mercedes-Benz in flies. Although it sounds rather odd, to be sure, there is a story behind that piece of rolling art.
The fly-covered Mercedes-Benz was inspired by an incident that Mercier witnessed on 2007. The story is that she was standing on a side street when the driver of a BMW drove up, parked and got out of the car. The man wore all white with plenty of gold bling around his neck. He then preceded to spit-shine a spot on his chrome wheels. According to the artist, the girls in attendance around him (including her) were “dropping like flies” as he did his best peacock strut.
Mercier decided to put a new spin on that situation with a different project. She coated an old Mercedes-Benz in fly paper and parked it in a greenhouse. We can imagine that PETA was not happy with the next step in that artistic piece, but she released about 100,000 flies into the building and waited. Once the body was fully covered with flies, Mercier, her brother and a couple of friends jumped into the vehicle and took it for a spin around the streets of Toulouse, France. The idea was that you can catch more flies with a Mercedes-Benz.
It should be noted that Natacha Mercier is no stranger to automobile art. She also dressed a Mercedes-Benz in a wedding gown as part of her art and is currently working on a project that involves an Opel Corsa. We can’t wait to see what she does next.