By: Jon Tonge; Authorized MMCC Film Critic

What do you get when an irresistible force meets a moveable object?

Harrod Blank’s documentary "Automorphosis" is a celebration of the irresistible force of artistic individuality on the open road via the medium of the automobile.

Commonly known as art cars, the film is an upbeat look at the offbeat people who use their cars as a canvas to demonstrate their personal, political or just downright odd passions.

There’s the motorcycle that’s a hydraulic hamburger, the van plated with 90,526 pennies (good for arthritis), the gothic carthedral, the flaming horror show, multiple spoon and utensil cars and Blank’s own camera van – a van covered in cameras, some of which work, to take pictures of people’s reactions to the traveling piece of performance art.

“I wanted to take pictures of people reacting to the car, but all I got were people reacting to the camera,” Blank said of his first art car, Oh My God! “What I’m looking for is a raw reaction of surprise. I just love seeing their jaws dropping. To me it’s beautiful to see their bewilderment. It’s such a surreal reality. I think the most profound thing in life is to see something for the very first time. To discover something.”

Though many may be familiar with Chris Hubbard‘s Heaven and Hell car seen in and around Athens, the most local car featured in the movie belongs to Hyler Bracey of Smyrna, whose own car featured a variety of acoustical and ship horns including the world’s largest air horn, guaranteed to be heard from 12 miles away on land and 20 at sea. A former racecar driver, Bracey suffered third-degree burns on 45 percent of his body in a career-ending wreck. Fearing the life of a disabled hermit, Bracey extroverted his personality through his newfound love of horns and whistles.

“Anything I was scared to do as a result of being burned I just made myself do it,” Bracey said. “Some people hear about a parade, some people watch the parade and some people are in the parade. Most people are spectators. I like being in the parade.”

Indeed, many people’s art cars are a form of passive-aggressive exhibitionism. Some have a message, some are art for art’s sake and some are an expression of soul. All the cars, however, seem to be a channeling of individuality, an expression of personal eccentricity a bumper sticker alone is unable to encapsulate.
“When I’m driving and people are waving at me and acknowledging me it somehow validates that I exist,” said Rebecca Cardwell, owner and creator of the Carthedral, a statement in gothic architecture with a combination 1971 Cadillac Hearst and Volkswagen Super Beetle on top complete with gargoyles and a catacomb.
A film as much about abandoning societal preconception and expectation and embracing the uniqueness of self, "Automorphosis" encourages one to put oneself on display, to cause a scene and make a stir, because after all, a car is just a car, but art lives forever.

"Automorphosis" is the first in a six-film series as part of the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers hosted by the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center. The film will be shown Monday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. There will be a post-screening discussion and reception with filmmaker Harrod Blank after the movie. Admission is $5.