The Hoofddorp artist Frans Ouwerkerk once got into trouble with the municipality of Haarlemmermeer because he put a gold-painted Chevrolet Corvette against the facade of his house. Now he’s looking for emptiness and the special C4 has to go.
Thirty years ago artist Frans Ouwerkerk got his 1985 Corvette C4 from New York. After driving the car for many years, he decided in 2013 to transform the now gold-painted Corvette into a work of art, by placing it on a four-meter-high scaffolding against the facade of his house at the JC Beetslaan in Hoofddorp. There, Ouwerkerk’s ‘Golden Lady’, as he affectionately calls him, should have stood for eternity, but in Hoofddorp eternal sometimes only lasts a while. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer thought it was a building for which a permit had to be applied for, Ouwerkerk thought it was a work of art and a permit nonsense.
The municipality drew the longest and the artist pulled his Corvette back into traffic. Now, seven years later, Ouwerkerk has tapped into the theme of ’emptiness’ and that also means an empty studio. The municipality will not be able to argue that much, so the Corvette is for sale. Those who are interested in a unique Chevrolet Corvette C4 with a story should bring a lot of money. Ouwerkerk says he is not doing it for the money, but still wants 50,000 euros for it. That is a multiple of what a regular (er) C4 does on the market. But admittedly, that did not involve 700,000 ‘painter’s movements’.