We like art. We like cars. We like it when artists do things with cars.

Take a look at French artist Vidya Gastaldon's wonderfully named Apparat / Dolly Rocker (dress for a 1983 black Porsche 911), 2004. As we often do when confronting any sort of artwork that's not a Hudson Valley landscape featuring a waterfall and sunlit clouds, we came, we saw, we scratched our heads.

A dress. On a car. With -- wait, what is that on the hood? A black sun with a smiley face? And a hot-air balloon? Or is it a diamond caught between two dark, menacing clouds?  And a sun rising above mountains. And a rainbow.

"Hey," we thought, "it's a landscape, after all!"

Then, as we always do, we made the mistake of going to the experts, and were thrown for yet another loop. According to the Kunstmuseum Thun, in Switzerland (and they should know), Apparat / Dolly Rocker is "a 'costume d'apparat' or magnificent costume for a Porsche, [and] occupies a special position in the artist's work. Gastaldon dresses up the luxury car as a medieval tournament horse. As a result of this intervention, the Porsche, that lifestyle icon, is robbed of its function as a sports car. After all, in this dignified outfit, a fast ride would be inconceivable. The gown is both protection and decoration, and the same time, a soft, sensual covering, individualised and adorned with signs and symbols."

We're now willing to concede that if a medieval tournament horse can be a car and a landscape and an icon and dignified and sensual, all at the same time, then that horse/car/symbol is also very likely a genuine work of art. Even if we continue to scratch our heads over it.

Here's hoping Vidya gets her hands on a Hummer one of these days. Now that would be something to see.