Sculptor at cutting edge of auto-art

An artistic slice of life or another dent in the tarnished image of the car? Whichever, sculptor Peter Mountain believes the trusty Fiat 126 provides the perfect vehicle for his work, writes Richard Smith.

Two of his cars, each chopped into 23 segments and welded back together, are on show at an exhibition - "Dissecting the Dream"- in Worcester Museum.

But for 39-year-old Mr Mountain, from Bristol, this is only the beginning - he intends to explore the theme further by creating another 18 Fiat 126 sculptures from the eight cars that he has rescued from scrap.

"I'm pretending to be a living computer," said Mr Mountain. "I'm manipulating images in real life that a computer can change on a screen ... I work intuitively and deal in shapes and form. I'm not here to make a political statement about the car. I'm here to make something visually challenging and the car is a strong object - it's perfect for what I want to do."