In January, three DC Super 3 planes were given contemporary facelifts by How & Nosm, Nunca, and Retna, a C45 was stenciled and painted by Faile, a Lockheed VC 140 Jetstar was given a shiny political treatment by Andrew Schoultz, a C97 cockpit was covered with work by Saner, and more than 30 nose cones were painted by international artists such as Richard Prince, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, Aiko, Futura, Peter Dayton, JJ Veronis, Mare, Tara McPherson, Crash, Daze, Ron English, Erik Foss, Tristan Eaton, Lisa Lebofsky, Mark Ryden, Walter Robinson, Judith Supine, Ryan Wallace, Jameson Ellis, Mark Kostabi, Eric White, and Arizona-based artists Colin Chillag, Daniel Martin Diaz, Randy Slack, El Mac, Dave Quan, and Hector Ruiz.
These names are as big in the contemporary art work as their canvases. The artists spent weeks attempting to transport, visualize, and ultimately transform discarded aircraft pieces under the careful eyes of curators Eric Firestone and Carlo McCormick. It's a tough — if not impossible — show to sell; the planes are huge and not operational, the nose cones won't fit through most standard doors, and the most anyone could take home was a flyer and a few Instagram photos.The Space Museum agreed to host the show for a few more months past its official closing date in May, but there are no solid buyers lined up for the larger-than-life contemporary art canvases, which means they'll likely return to the Tucson desert boneyard in which they were found and perhaps live to see another reincarnation.