LA Car Man
Will’s work is impelled by this same desire to help people and put things right. The 
many drawings of cars, for example, have at their core a desire to design safe auto­
mobiles. They are the beginning of it all in a way, stemming from the time in 1984 
when Will’s niece was killed in a traffic accident. “My brother was devastated,” he 
says, “Something in him died, and I wanted to somehow make it right; prevent it 
happening again. So I started to design safety features.”  The artist places protec­
tive rails and buffers right around his vehicles; sometimes their purpose is to pro­
tect pedestrians from injury, but mostly the additions and protuberances are 
designed to minimise the effect of impacts and to absorb shocks. Chassis are big 
and chunky. Cabins are characteristically protected by plexiglass domes, which 
also ensure all-round visibility. The resulting images give the effect of retrofuturis­
tic speed machines – that is, they are definitely not of the present, but they are in 
some ways emblematic of historical technologies put to futuristic purpose.  Such a 
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“Untitled” (Wrist Choke Saver), 2011.                           
Pencil on paper,  11 x 14 inches.
“Untitled” (Emergency Brake Handle), 2014.              
Pencil on paper, 11 x 14 inches.

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