- MSCHF created surreal sculptures based on the Lexus RZ and RX.
- One loops into a circle while the other twists dramatically along its length.
- Lexus helpfully warns the sculptures may not be street legal.
There are plenty of ways to customize a Lexus. New wheels are a good start. Maybe lower it a little, add a body kit, or, if subtlety isn’t really your thing, cover the whole thing in carbon fiber. The Brooklyn-based art collective, MSCHF, had another idea. Bend one into a circle and twist another like you’re wringing out a wet towel. These aren’t pure sculptures either. They have genuine Lexus parts all over.
Lexus commissioned MSCHF to create two new sculptures for an exhibition called MOTOMORPHOSIS. The resulting creations take the basic forms of the electric Lexus RZ 450e and plug-in hybrid RX 450h+ and manipulate them in ways that would make even the most ambitious body shop politely decline the job. We’re just stoked an LC didn’t end up sacrificed in the process.
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The idea comes from something that’s completely mundane in the digital world. In 3D animation, designers can stretch, twist, and distort objects almost without restriction. MSCHF wanted to see what those same transformations would look like when applied to something very much rooted in the physical world. The first creation, appropriately called Circle Car, takes the form of an RZ 450e and bends it until its nose effectively meets its tail.
Lexus describes it as “driving infinitely round,” although driving is doing some exceptionally heavy lifting there. Then there’s Twisted Car, based on the RX 450h+. Rather than bending the SUV into a loop, MSCHF subjected its body to what Lexus calls “dramatic longitudinal torsion.” Put less delicately, it looks like someone grabbed each end of an RX and twisted in opposite directions. Importantly, MSCHF hasn’t actually taken two functioning Lexuses and subjected them to some gigantic industrial torture device.
Lexus describes these as sculptural doubles of the production vehicles, with normal examples of the RZ and RX displayed alongside them. MOTOMORPHOSIS will put the sculptures alongside the real RZ 450e and RX 450h+ at Chelsea Industrial in New York. The exhibition opens September 24 and runs through September 26, with admission free to anyone who RSVPs. Before anyone gets any bright ideas, however, Lexus has one final warning.
The company actually notes that the special project vehicles contain non-Lexus components that “may void warranty, negatively impact safety, and not be street legal.” Thanks, Lexus. That could’ve been ugly.
We’re no lawyers, but we’d wager that these modifications negatively impact their roadworthiness. Still, it’s the warranty disclaimer that gets us. Apparently, even after turning your Lexus into a giant automotive pretzel, there’s at least enough ambiguity for the lawyers to stick with “may.” We’d love to see the service advisor’s face when you bring one in.
