A Fleet of Chiseled Cars by Kiko Miyares Adds New Meaning to Getting Caught in the Headlights

Two sculptures of wooden cars with solid yellow headlights, and in the headlights are landscapes and the open road.

All images © Kiko Miyares

Typically, one avoids getting “caught like a deer in headlights,” but for Kiko Miyares, that’s the whole point. Chiseled from single pieces of timber, the Llanes, Spain-based artist fashions miniature, colorful cars with the high-beams turned on and an array of landscapes and tableaux in their sights.

“I immerse myself in a creative game where shapes, dimensions, and perspective intertwine to challenge expectations,” Miyares says.

The artist often experiments perception, carving wood into a wide range of objects like shoes, animals, and figures with elongated, surreal features. Miyares’ inspiration for the yellow headlights was sparked “from my fascination with the convergence of art and functionality,” he says. “My goal is to go beyond the conventional, merging aesthetics with utility and exploring how form can influence perception.”

Distinctively long, solid lights serve as the pieces’ supports, which can be propped up into slender columns as if they are driving straight toward the ground. “The car series still has no end, and depending on the creative moment, I keep modifying the concept,” Miyares says.

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A series of wooden sculptures of cars with long yellow headlights, lined up in a row.

A side-by-side image of different views of the same wooden sculpture, depicting a race car with long yellow headlights. The image on the left shows the sculpture standing up, and he image of the right shows the edge of the headlights with the silhouette of a figure chasing a ball.

A group of tall wooden sculptures of cars with long, neon yellow headlights beaming down to the floor.

A sculpture of a wooden car with solid yellow headlights, and in the headlights is a tropical landscape.

A side-by-side image. On the left, a small horizontal painting of a landscape on wood. On the right, a wooden car sculpture with long yellow headlights and the silhouette of a deer.

A wooden sculpture of a burgundy car with long yellow headlights.

Two side-by-side images. The left shows two wooden sculptures of cars with long yellow headlights, propped up on a pile of dirt. On the right, three wooden car sculptures beam headlights toward the camera, with landscapes painted on the edges of the headlights.

A series of wooden car sculptures with long yellow headlights. A sculpture of a wooden car with solid yellow headlights, and in the headlights is a landscape with a winding road.