Virginia Overton's Deconstructed Truck Sculpture for Art Basel Parcours 2016

Virginia Overton created Untitled (2016), a deconstructed pick-up truck sculpture, for the Parcours program at Art Basel 2016. The work was displayed outside Basel's Bau-und Verkehrsdepartement, engaging public spaces beyond the fair. Overton explained she has made about a dozen truck sculptures, typically altering truck beds while keeping vehicles functional, but for Parcours she dismantled the entire truck, loading it into its own bed and rendering it unusable. She visited Basel in January 2016 with curator Samuel Leuenberger to select the site, choosing the transportation department location for its conceptual resonance. Overton described how materials migrate through her practice, with elements often repurposed across multiple works. The sculpture's placement in a public setting allowed interaction beyond typical art fair audiences, using familiar truck imagery as an entry point. She noted trucks embody practicality and self-sufficiency, serving as both pedestal and material. Overton had recently completed solo exhibitions at the Aldrich Museum in Connecticut and the Whitney Museum, with a White Cube London exhibition scheduled for September 30, 2016. She was studying architectural plans for the London show while installing the Basel work. The interview was published online exclusively on June 14, 2016.