BMW Art car from Tom Havlasek

On Thursday, 16.7.2015, in Bruntal, Czech Republic, one special and unique project was born. People from small Czech village were left speechless in seight of a BMW "Art Car". 

 

There are BMW artcars that we all know about, but this one has purely czech origin. Author of the new creation is famous Czech motorsport artist Tom Havlasek and it was created especially for BP Autosport team driver Mi Vi. 

His idea was quite clear as he explains."Nordchleife and BMW. There was no other option but to create an artcar." Tom´s reaction was similar. "I was happy to accept Michal´s offer immediately. 

Nobody knew how the car was going to look except me, so it was a surprise for everyone, also for Mi Vi. 

My goal was to express Michal with my traditional, expressionist style," says Tom, who left on M3 E46 his signature. Car is being prepared for this year´s VLN series on Nurburgring, and it is the story of legendary Green Hell that was captured by Tom´s hands on the left side of the car. 

Two stories painted by Tom will be divided by the "chequered flag", an unmistakable symbol of not only automobile racing itself, but also an expression of history of racing, BMW and Green Hell – the cocktail of long tradition, enthusiasm and real motorsport. 

 On the right side of the car, many will recognize the famous „Hello Titty“. Mi Vi´s favorite motive was pictured before on his helmet and now it will match his M3. "The car has a soul. Liveries express the soul of the freak sitting behind the wheel. 

Tom is an artist and an amateur racing driver, so who on Earth would be able to understand and express my soul better? 

We are also good friends and I like his motorsport art." VLN series will not be the only occasion where the first Czech BMW artcar will be seen. Mi Vi is also getting ready for the Hankook series12h of Brno this fall. 

More from Tom Havlasek here.

François Bruere

Born in Le Mans in 1961 François Bruere, former student of the school of Fine Arts in Angers (France) and graduate of the National Conservatory of decorative arts and crafts in Paris is our featured artist this week.

François has dedicated himself professionally and passionately to mechanical art since the end of his studies and has made a career of his art since 1982. He draws, paints, sculpts, illustrates automobile and motorcycle magazines and books, and builds his own concept cars, real rolling sculptures.

His passion has led him to create original and unique artwork for car manufacturers and art collectors. He draws his inspiration from the history of a brand or a car which he praises for its beauty.
He portrays a pilot’s expression or a crowd of fans which often depicts a heroic time period marked by Romanticism .

His painting goes beyond hyperrealism and expresses the temperament, the vibrations which we feel when looking, listening to or driving an automobile.
His unique and recognizable style strongly reflects the link between man and his machine.

From body styles with endless curves to victorious brands from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, François Bruère’s artwork absorbs us into his realm where light enhances the volume, making us feel the vibrations of the racetrack or sharing the elegance of the "Concours d’Elégance".

Through the contrast between his sepia backgrounds and colored foreground images, and a mix of mirroring, transparency and shining of light on chrome or polished luster painting, François Bruère expresses himself powerfully and with virtuosity in his watercolors enhanced with airbrushing, thus making him a recognized artist in the automotive and international art scene.

From his bronze, aluminum shavings, and glass sculptures to his “rolling sculptures” he is appreciated as a complete artist and has been honored with prestigious awards.

Official painter (A.C.O. license) of the 24 HOURS of Le Mans, he has been commissioned by the Ministry of Transport and creates stamps for the Postal Services in France.

He also handles orders for car manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Cadillac, General Motors, Harley Davidson, Honda and Jaguar to mention some.

He has also created art editions for automobile club such as Audi, Porsche, Mazda, Jaguar and Morgan.

And he also has worked for several race organizers such as Le Mans, Road Atlanta (USA) and Fuji (Japan) as well as organizers of Rallies and Rolls Royce, Paris Deauville and Rouen.

His work has also been on show at motor/car shows: Geneva, Barcelona, Munich, and « Concours d'élégance ». He has also created posters and art editions for Meadow Brook, Auburn (USA), Villa d'Este (Italy), La Baule (France).

His highly original works are already displayed in numerous private collections in Europe, United States, Hong Kong and Japan.

One of his very well known pieces is a bronze and stainless steel sculpture to commemorate Wilbur Wright’s first flight.

Exhibitions, private collections and public art commissions (Artist' Auto in France, AFAS in the USA) :
France: Le Mans, Paris, Lyon, Nimes, Rouen, Angers, Tours, Deauville, La Baule, Monaco …
Switzerland: Geneva,
Germany: Munich, Essen, Schwetzingen
Sweden: Stockholm,
Italy: Villa d'Este, Ferrara
Spain: Barcelona
Austria: Faaker See
Belgium: Anvers, Spa
Great Britain: Beaulieu
Japan: Fuji, Le Mans Classic Japan
USA: Chicago, Detroit, Sebring, Daytona, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Auburn, Palm Beach, Scottsdale, Monterey, Pebble Beach (VIP guest), Amelia Island, Hawaii.

He has also been represented through permanent exhibitions in the automobile museums and at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles as of 2012.

In 1996 François Bruere created his own art editions company called ORPHEOGRAFF, which publishes and diffuses his artwork from postcards to litho illustrations (more than 200 references).

To find our more about his work check this link.

He is also a member of « la maison des artistes », the most important association of visual artists in France.

Below you can enjoy some of his pieces. Always respect copyright.

Dean Ferreira

As many of us would appreciate you really have to love and appreciate cars to be able to paint, draw or photograph them. Don't get me wrong, anyone can photograph cars, but it shows when you have a passion for the subject matter.

Today we have a photographer with this passion. Dean Ferreira has been into cars and other mechanical things since he was a kid.

"I was always underfoot while my dad was rebuilding some classic car or VW bug" explains Dean.

As a real enthusiast he purchase his first car when he was just 15 years old. A dream can for most of I think, it was a 1967 Ford Mustang which was non runner. The 6 cylinder engine was blown, and the car itself in need of TLC and paint.

"My dad rebuilt the engine and had it ready to go by my 16th birthday" he commented.

Dean started working in the construction industry in the San Francisco Bay in California after he graduated, but wasn't long before he started photography.

He concluded, "for the past five years I have been photographing cool images of cars that "Gearheads" and normal people will appreciate".

Contact Dean on; DeanFerreira2@gmail.com
Check out his website here.
See some of his work on Pinterest here.
You can also follow Dean on Facebook here.

Meanwhile, you can enjoy some of his work below. Always respect copyright.

Black Art Graphics

Today we feature the works of Dan Kozakewycz, Black Art Graphics. Slightly different to our other features as this is what we call "Engineering Art"

Based on the Isle of Wight, Black Art Graphics produce 'Engineered Art', technical blueprint style artwork laser etched on to brushed effect anodised aluminium plaques. The blueprint artwork includes highly detailed orthographic projection views of the vehicle with surrounding in-depth technical specification notation, listing specifics of the engine, transmission, suspension, brakes and chassis. The designers and engineers behind the vehicle, when available, are also noted in the 'title block' along with the manufacturing location and other specifics.

Each piece is bespoke, with customisations ranging from a number plate, VIN number and owners name, to a set of aftermarket wheels and lowered suspension all the way to the full visual representation and technical specification of a 1000bhp drag car.

The finished artwork, which is proof checked by the customer prior to manufacture, is laser etched onto an A3 (420x297mm) sized plaque, laser cut from 3mm thick 5251 grade aluminium with a brushed effect finish.

About Dan,

His passion for technical drawing began when he  first started secondary school. From doodling outrageous cartoon weapons on the back of his schoolbooks at age 11, he got interested in cars at about the age of 15 and started drawing them in caricature style. The interest in cars went beyond drawing when he started driving, and taking a keen interest in the way they worked, beyond basic mechanics and into vehicle dynamics.

At the age of 19 he started at Brooklands College and attained an HND in Motorsport Engineering after focussing a lot of  time on 3D design. He had intentions of continuing study to BEng level at Oxford Brookes with hopes of getting a job designing racing cars, but as the 2008 financial crisis was just emerging as he finished his HND, he opted to bow out of study and take up a solid job offer as a draughtsman for a local design consultancy. The work was a good match to the skills he had learnt as a CAD draughtsman, but ultimately with no vehicular content it lacked that spark to keep him interested.

When the managing director and company founder announced his retirement in late 2013, his colleagues and Danwere brainstorming retirement gift ideas. He came up with the idea of an engraved plaque that replicated one of their in house drawings, with his cherished Austin Healey sports car as the subject. The idea was well received and they went ahead with producing the drawing, commissioning a studio in London to manufacture it. The finished article looked so good that Dan immediately considered the wider appeal of it, and he searched for other companies offering the same product (because someone else has always  got there before you, right?). When he realized that nobody else was doing it, he decided to set about making a small business out of the idea.

"Initially the drawings were pretty crude, I had spent most of my career working on high end 3D CAD software and had only brief experience of 2D systems like AutoCAD, much less of specialised graphic design software that would generally be used for this sort of work. I also had to pay a laser cutting studio quite a lot of money to manufacture the plaques for me, which made them prohibitively expensive, combined with long lead times (I had to do 6 at a time to get the best price) it wasn't really shaping up as a viable business" Dan explained.

He found that the only way to push this forwards was to have his own laser engraver, but with these being a fairly significant investment it would need funding somehow. With only a half baked business idea and a completely unproven product, it was hardly the stuff of bank manager or angel investors dreams, so he turned to where many innovative new businesses now look, crowdfunding. On his birthday last year he launched a Kickstarter campaign, aiming to raise a lofty £15k target to buy the laser engraver and launch the business. By the end of the 40 day campaign, following 6 magazine articles and a very stressful few weeks of constant promotion on social media, he had reached and surpassed the target, and a month later was the proud owner of a new top of the range laser engraver.

"Since then I have progressed the business from a spare bedroom evening business, to a full time occupation running from a dedicated office unit, and have even taken on a member of staff to help out with the technical research, drawing and manufacturing processes," he commented.

They are now looking to branch out from cars, into bikes, boats, aircraft and anything else that this style of artwork could find fans!

You can find out more on the website here.

Follow Black Art Graphics on Facebook here.

To contact Dan direct, you can email him at; dan@blackartgraphics.com

More featured artists here.

Tom Sachse

Today we have another great artist from the USA. Tennessee to be exact.

Tom recalls his mother's voice telling him that he could tell her the name of every car that drove by when he was just 6 years old. That was in 1955.

I think most of us understand this as car enthusiasts.

"The only reason I started to create car art was so I could have a room full of all the cars I loved" explained Tom. "Shortly thereafter a few friends asked me , if I could draw their car. One thing lead to another and I found myself creating car art on a consistent basis" he added.

Well, looking back that was a few years ago and since Tom has been rather busy drawing and painting various cars to add to his portfolio or simply done as commissions.

He tries to keep the cars as the focal point of his paintings and digital art, hence, most of the pieces leave little room for anything but cars (we like that).

"I believe that we are in our final days of the great cars. It seems possible that cars will soon be self driven and the excitement and pleasure of the automobile will begin to fade" commented Tom.

His goal is to do his part in preserving as many cars as possible and price them so every car enthusiast, even those 6 year olds can afford his art.

You can see some of Tom's work on this short youtube video.

Tom also accepts commission, so why not get in touch and have a chat.

You can follow him on facebook here.

Also check his website here for more information and images.Most of my creations reside on this site.

Below you can enjoy some of Tom's work. Always respect copyright.