I've always enjoyed trompe l'oeil art and so when I received some images from the truck art meme (if that's the right term) I thought how nice that European trucks can move beyond the JB HUNT and Schneider logos regularly rolling down I-40. But then, I poked around the Net and quickly arrived at the snopes page discussing the origin of the images.

I'm not disappointed that the images are less real than I had first supposed--in fact the art is real, rolling, rotating canvases meant to grab the eye. The fact that they were created for an advertising competition and represent stylized versions of the American brand image on eighteen wheels stirs some discouragement. Still, I like looking at the contrast between the American logo branding and the European ads as truck art. Here, where car culture meets consumer culture, I fidget with terms like sophistication, audience, engagement. Of course, I'm no longer just looking at the wild images on the sides of the trucks. I have to ask about manipulation (of art and habits) and the analysis that must be brought to bear to respond to manipulation.

So, I wonder how analytical I want to be. Through another e-mail forward, I got a look at some of Julian Beever's pavement drawings. I honestly had trouble deciding if some of these were not photoshop manipulations. I especially wondered about the ones in which Beever is holding objects--a shovel, a metal detector. Great concept, but how does he draw that? A bit more poking revealed that, according to snopes, similar images by Kurt Wenner are authentic. My impulse was to couple this verification with my sense that the chalk drawings are less commercial (though equally consumable) and set the drawings in opposition to the truck art. In the end, I realize that (whether genuine or not) I really don't want to ruin the effect of the chalk drawings by following the photoshopping question through. I'm having more trouble returning to that mindset for the trucks, but I wonder, if one were to pass me on the interstate, especially if accompanied by hints of diesel fumes and exhaust note, would I return to a more innocent appreciation?