Auto art by Irina Kuksova

Today we have another talented artist. This time from Russia. Born in Zelenograd, Russia, Irina had an urge since she was only 4. She wanted to tell stories which she found easier by drawing them. She reckons they only made sense to her, but it was a start. Ten years later her paintings and drawings started making sense to other people too. So much sense in fact, that they were willing to purchase her artwork. Despite this early success, she still wasn’t sure this was her path.
After travelling to Italy for the first time at age 18 and reading ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’ based on the life of Michele Angelo, she decided to go to Italy to see and learn as much as possible about Italian Renaissance art. The quality and the level of detail in Renaissance paintings impressed her. So much so that in one year she learnt Italian, quit International Economics Degree Course in Moscow and enrolled into the Brera Academy of Fine Art in Milan, Italy.
After she graduated she moved to Dublin, Ireland, where she lives today. She is now a full-time Visual Artist working for private clients and Film Industry.
Irina commented; “What fuels my passion for life is: travelling, beauty and all things unique. In my artwork I celebrate all the three: I paint exceptionally well-designed classic & vintage automobiles”.
“Unlike everyday cars, classic cars have a very distinct character and a unique pedigree. When painting classic cars I cannot help asking myself: how is this built? why did the designer choose this shape and not the other? how come this design work so well? All the little car details and the thought behind each of them are a real sensory feast for me. This appreciation of each car’s personality plus the time I dedicate to studying the story of their lives makes me somewhat fall in love with each car I paint!” explains Irina.
Almost all of her classic car portraits are commissioned acrylics or oils on canvas. “I love creating a unique piece for a specific person. I’d paint the car owner’s family home in the background instead of a generic landscape, I’d ‘erase’ the random reflection on the automobile side and ‘paste’ a reflection of what really makes sense. I even ‘dressed’ the clients who wanted to appear in the painting wearing vintage clothes” she added.
For those not yet ready for their own commissioned piece, she has Limited Edition Giclee Prints of her artwork – signed, numbered and embossed. They come with a Certificate of Authenticity and make a great gift for any ‘petrol head’!

To see what’s available and ask any question you might have visit Irina’s Facebook page here.

You can contact her by email on mail@irinakuksova.ie, or simply have a look at her website here.

Motorsport is our passion

The art of Joseph Casapinta

Another great artist today. This time from the beautiful island of Malta.

Born into an artistic family, Joseph started young. He showed great interest in drawing and through the years he has specialized in the subject matter and experimented with different types of mediums. These being Acrylics, Oils, Watercolour and Pen & Ink.
With his foundations in drawing becoming stronger through the years, his first experience in the professional world was in commercial art which through the introduction in the 80's lead to a career of over 35 years in Information Technology. He may have been busy at work but he had his art on his mind and kept drawing and painting whenever possible.
"My passion for classic cars started back when I was searching for my first car", Joseph explains. "Visiting a local car dealer I came across a red MGB GT. Although I was over the top in wanting to get this car, it was not to be and as years passed by, with family matters taking priorities, the idea of owning an MG was put on the shelf", he continued.
With his introduction of a classic car collection of paintings back in 2015 he was becoming more intrigued with this subject and the idea of owning an MG was back, every time being requested a painting of B, searching to find the right one.
Finally in January 2019, his MGB arrived and soon after he founded the MG Car Club Malta together with some friends and MG enthusiasts, to which he is currently the chairman.
For the past twenty years he has organised solo exhibitions both in Malta and other countries around Europe. His art consist of Rural, Urban and Marine scenes depicting the lovely island of Malta, however, together with this, he has now launched the Joseph Casapinta Automobilia for which most of his cars can be seen on Art in Motion|Joseph Casapinta Art.
The paintings are all done in watercolour on acid free watercolour paper. Sizes differ from a 19x36cm to a 56x75cm ranging 5 different sizes, although he can custom a painting accordingly and can either depict the car itself or be part of a scene, such as a racing or having a particular background.
Every painting relates a story and so does every car at the coming age of thirty, this starts a new beginning. Some are kept to be used as daily cars and others are put into garages and tenderly taken care of, used for Sunday rides and displayed at car shows.
His collection has seen the pre war 30's to early 80's, he has covered a good number of cars which are now part of private collections.
More information on his website here.
You can also get in touch with him via email on; info@josephcasapinta.net.
You can enjoy some of his work below. As always, please respect copyright.