Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts

Saturday, March 5, 2011

BMW Art Car Legacy Dies with Jeff Koons

BMW Koons Art Car Candle Vigil Photoshop by Art Car Central
BMW Koons Art Car Candle Vigil Photoshop by Art Car Central


I have resisted the temptation to post the Jeff Koons BWM art car for a very long enough, but today I brake my silence. This BMW art car is everywhere, with gushy articles galore about how "great this" how "great that", yada yada yada. On and on it goes with article after article singing the praises of Jeff Koons. Dude!!!! BMW has produced some truly amazing art cars created by artist such as Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol. All these guys actually painted their cars, unlike Koons who barely scratched the back of the BMW with a sharpie to sign his name. The art on the BMW is a CAD generated art work that was printed on vinyl and applied to the bodywork and various spare parts. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against vinyl but at what point did Koons get on his CAD program and crank out this art work? BMW used Koons star power to promote their latest creation which is fine me, but in my opinion he can't hold a candle to the great artists who came before him. Unless BMW rethinks their choice of artist to represent their cars in the future, there will be a lot more candle vigils taking place.




Monday, January 31, 2011

Hot Painted Ferrari Art Car by Ton Pret

Hot Painted Ferrari Art Car by Ton Pret

Dutch modern painter and fashion artist Ton Pret reveals Ferrari Art-Car on Open Art Fair

The Ton Pret Ferrari project is an unique art-car project where Dutch modern artist Ton Pret transformed a high-powered Ferrari 355 into 'The Fastest Artwork of Holland'. The project was executed in the summer of 2010.

Ton Pret Artist


Ton Pret started as a painter in 2005. His success emerged fast and work was exposed in the Amsterdam “Beurs van Berlage, the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, in Ascona Italy and the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. Not only his paintings and sculptures are popular amongst art-lovers and collectors, also his shoes, jeans and watches are in growing demand worldwide. His colorful high-heeled shoes caused a stir in the latest Paris fashion shows.

Ton Pret Ferrari

With this art-car project Ton transformed a high-powered Ferrari 355 into 'The Fastest Artwork of Holland'. Ton comments: ‘’This project was done in assignment of a lover of Dutch modern art, whom I met in the end of 2009. When he proposed to paint his Ferrari in my style I immediately said yes. I never had second thoughts.” The combination of this well-designed car, the speed and the joy of colors can be characterized as explosive. The Ton Pret Ferrari is already causing lots of controversies, especially amongst car lovers. The Ton Pret Ferrari is not meant to be sold but will be on display at selected events.

The Project

The planning for this project started in January 2010. In the beginning of May the car was prepared by Ferrari bodywork specialists. The actual painting of the car took Ton seven weeks. The complete car was hand painted, using a small size brush. To reach the desired depth of the colors all painting had to be done at least three times over. Because of these high working standards, the project demanded far more time than initially planned.

The work was also physically demanding. Because the car is painted top-to-bottom, Ton had to perform most of his creative work from difficult angles. To protect the delicate technology of the car the entire project was executed under the expert supervision of the Ferrari Bodyshop in 's-Graveland, The Netherlands.

Art-car tradition

Ton is not the first Dutch artist creating an exclusive hand painted art-car. With this project Ton follows the footsteps of Cobra artist Karel Appel and rock star and painter Herman Brood. Internationally the BMW-art-car series are well-known, featuring Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and recently Jeff Koons.

Recently more and more cars are being decorated with a special car foil. This process is cost-effective and quick, the foil can be applied within a day. Because the original artwork is copied on foil the result can be easily reproduced. This technique was not an option for this project. The goal of Ton and the owner of the Ferrari was to create a real object of art that is and will always remain a unique piece.

The Ferrari

The Ferrari 355 GTS Competizione is in perfect condition. The car runs over 185 miles per hour. It has a 8 cylinder / 3.5 liter engine and weighs 1350 kilo. The original color was Giallo Modena (Ferrari yellow).

Hot Painted Ferrari Art Car by Ton Pret
article via open art fair

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Tesla Art Car For Sale - Tesla Motors finally gets it

 Tesla Art Car For Sale Side
Tesla Art Car - (Credit: Tesla Motors)
Tesla Motors finally got in the art car game by commissioning their very own Tesla Roadster art car created by digital media pioneer Laurence Gartel, whose commercial work includes glossy magazine advertisements for Absolut vodka.

The car is for sale for only $109,000, but because it features a vinyl car wrap, the buyer will have to pony up a few more bucks for the art work which by the way has a shelf life of about 5 years. via cnet.

 Tesla Art Car For Sale
Tesla Art Car - (Credit: Tesla Motors)

 Tesla Art Car For Sale rear
Tesla Art Car - (Credit: Tesla Motors)