In all of history, artists have drawn influence on how people moved throughout their time in this world.

From sculpted horses, painted ships and even planes have made it into the gallery space. I was asked to make a car into art. This was the ambition; but was it even possible? A luxury car no matter the price is still a car, so what makes it a work of art? 

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 The car itself, the current British tour championship car of ExcelR8.  Lead by Tom Ingram and team.  It’s a road car made to race. These machines are arguably art in themselves so it was already a good starting point. 

 

Three artists stood out to me from the beginning of the project.

 

One artist who has proven machines can be a work of art is Mexican artist Darmian Ortega. You may know his expanding, exploding sculptures where machines are suspended in a static bang of floating parts.That blown up effect I have taken into the sculpture.

 

‘ “The worlds splendour has been enriched by a new Beauty : the beauty of speed, a roaring automobile.  That seems to run on shrapnel is more beautiful than the victory of the samothrace” Marinette

 

The samothrace is the oldest figurative sculpture known.  Embracing the machines potential, the futurist movement quoted the above in their manifesto;  they believed in the beauty of the future. One artist in the group called Giacomo Balla was very influential in my approach. He captures the unseen momentum, the invisible signs of movement and makes them visible. Through using repetition of lines, harsh plains and perspective in his paintings you find yourself understanding the captured motion. Speed is what he loved and I like that idea.

 

My final influence to this work was the famous Yayoi Kusama. Her material of fame is her use of mirrors and light. The mixture of light bouncing into infinity I felt echoed the feeling of getting into your car and driving anywhere you wanted to go. It is a feeling of freedom. I remember the emotions on the day I got my first car.   That feeling of that anything is possible was ignited. The infinity boxes were a way of taking the inside space of the car and making it something else. As the idea of the boxes progressed it was clear I could create an infinite space. But ; What should you make infinite? What would you put in the box? this idea very quickly this showed me who I was.  

 

“Creating art and writing novels and poems are simply different roads I have chosen in my search for truth.” Kusama 

 

The idea was to combine all these influences and bring them to fruition.  The car parts to represent Ortega. The mirrors to incapsulate Kusama, and to create a feeling with the passion of Giacomo Balla. These different philosophies shouldn't work side by side, but I've brought them together to  create a car like its never been seen before. 

 

I would like to thank Vertu Motors for giving me the opportunity to show a sculpture in this iconic venue.