An unlikely prop greeted guests at the Greenwich, Connecticut, art gallery owned by newspaper tycoon—and father of the fashionable Brant brothers—Peter Brant Sr. on Sunday: the white Ford Bronco previously owned by O.J. Simpson. The same white Ford Bronco that transported the former N.F.L. player (and, in June 1994, alleged murderer) during that infamous slow-speed car chase. And also apparently the same white Ford Bronco that is available for party rentals.
The prop was rented for the day as a nod to artist Nate Lowman, whose exhibit “I Wanted to Be an Artist But All I Got Was This Lousy Show” was being celebrated over the weekend. Forbes surmises that the vehicle was rented as a thematic flourish for the opening-night soiree, since Lowman, whose show features tabloid crime-scene photos and shots of Tonya Harding and a seemingly drunken Jenna Bush, “has been thinking a lot about tragic blondes lately.” Parked on the polo lawn underneath Brant’s Urs Fischer statue, Art Info adds, the Bronco “made a great photo op for Brant’s fashionable guests, which included David Altmejd, Dan Colen, LeeLee Sobieski, Terry Richardson, Cynthia Rowley, and the members of Gang Gang Dance, who played a surprise performance.”
Although it is not entirely certain who owns the Ford Bronco these days, the vehicle was purchased by Michael Pulwer for $75,000, nearly twice its original value, after Simpson was found liable for the deaths of his wife and her companion Ronald Goldman during a 1997 civil trial. This is presumably not the first time that a Lowman art exhibit has invoked O.J. Simpson and his late wife: the artist has repeatedly used an image of a topless Nicole Brown Simpson in his pieces since 2001.
Related: Artist Nate Lowman Calls Overpriced Artwork “Poker Chips for Billionaires”