John Haney’s artwork is a 1973 Cadillac Eldorado coup, on view on Gallery Level 1 in the exhibition Hamilton Now: Subject. Titled THNATOS, the car is a luxury vehicle built on the verge of the first oil crisis. Covered with gold leaf by the artist himself, the object ponders the decadence and decay that accompanies wealth and excess, and speaks to the cycles of destruction that result from consumer greed and expectation.
While installing the exhibition, our curators, prep team and the artist himself, undertook the task of bringing THANTOS into the Gallery. The car was dropped off in our shipping bay, then brought up our freight elevator and wheeled through the hallways of the AGH to the Southam Gallery, its new home until January 2019.
Take a look at this video that illustrates the installation process!
John Haney
THNATOS, 2018
1973 Cadillac Eldorado coupe (length: 18.5 feet; width: 6.7 feet; curb weight: 5095 lbs; engine displacement: 500 cubic inches), New Zealand Champagne sheepskin, sand-cast aluminum licence plates, custom hood ornament (backwards-facing angel), Saudi parlour jacket (silk, gold thread), and 2909 sheets of 24-karat gold leaf
