The Carnage Series deals with our car culture’s preoccupation with the vehicular status symbol. In most cases, the wheels are as important as the vehicle. The social pressures for keeping up with the latest fashion-driven aspect has become a cultural phenomenon. One result is that buyers of new vehicles are warned that with a particular upgrade in their vehicle’s wheels, they run a greater risk of having their car stolen. Each region in California currently has an undercurrent of gang and criminal activity solely based on these parameters. Lives are lost, property is damaged and the culture of the gang members on the street is driven by these bizarre designed and fashion-driven realities. The Carnage Series includes wheels specifically named for some of these social issues, such as “Compton” and “Encino” inscribed on each wheel, as well as the geo-social impact of the wheel and the car on our planet via the green wheels and the “You Are Here” markers.

These aspects of the work relative to this intriguing phenomena and cultural imperative highlight a pivotal point of interest to Tzanetopoulos in a greater social-logical context: an individual’s efforts to enhance the visual status of one’s vehicle as a conspicuous fashion and status-driven icon in Los Angeles -- that is the car.