In order to understand what Mr. Hobbs is doing today we have to turn back the clock a bit to a prior episode where we find him inside one of his monster sculptures, on wheels, as it creeps along the gallery floor. Hobbs powered the piece himself with the aid of a few simple devices. From this simple beginning it was a logical step to have a sculpture that moved without the aid of man (or animal).

After a number of false starts a Fiat motor car was secured upon whose girth would rest what was later called a “Parade,” or a parade sculpture. Hobbs used the auto as an armature upon which he put fiberglass and magnesite wings, fins, tunnels, flaps, multi-color emblems and finally a number of different hues varying from a deep red-purple to chromium yellow. From inside this doom buggy, recorded Spanish hillbilly music sounds for the benefit of passerby and rider. The construction of Hobbs’ truly mobile sculpture took between two and three months and at the end of the construction, with proper fanfare, Mr. Hobbs and a co-pilot drove the sculpture to New York City where it arrived without incident.

—James Monte