Category: Automotive Art

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Automotive Art Racing Ephemera

The Captivating Automotive Photography of Steffen Jahn

Any photographer worth a damn can make a technically proficient photograph of a car, but it takes something else to evoke the spirit of the car. That’s what is happening here.

There’s something special about Steffen Jahn’s imagery. Something that somehow makes you look past the mere form of the subject, even with all the historic legacy these subjects carry, and take us into a moment. Many of these shots look less like still photography and more like a still captured from a beautifully shot film. And it’s not just the specific film that these shots of a 917/512 duel typically conjures.

Head on over to Steffen’s site for more of his brilliant work. Perhaps as much as the beautiful racing imagery, I love his “Making of” gallery that shows he’s not just capturing arresting moments of these inspired machines; he’s having a damned good time doing it.

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Automotive Art

Peter Olschinsky’s Ventilspiel 1000km

It’s starting to become more and more difficult to keep track of all the fantastic historic race meetings happening around the world, and I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I didn’t know the Ventilspiel 1000km race at Austria’s Red Bull Ring. If these astoundingly atmospheric photographs from Peter Olschinsky capture even a tenth of the excitement of the event then it’s definitely worth adding to your list of events to attend in ’12.

In my own photos, this low contrast and saturation is a mistake, and it looks it. In Peter’s photography, the low saturation lends a mood to his shots that suits the subject marvelously. When a piece of art’s methods or palette or construction accentuates the subject it always feels more whole to me. Peter Olschinsky’s studies from the Ventilspiel 1000km definitely fit that description. Click on over to Atelier Olschinsky for the complete collection.

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Automotive Art For Sale

Stefan Marjoram’s Automotive Advent Calendar

Stefan wrote in to tell me about his latest wonderful automotive art project. Each day leading up to December 24th, he’s releasing a different postcard-sized pencil and watercolor sketch. If I know Stefan’s stuff, they’re bound to all be fantastic. But then he does us all one better—he’s selling the original piece each day through his new Etsy store for a paltry £24. The images above are the releases for December 1 and 2—each with their respective racing number. Fun!

Hey Stefan, if you do one, set aside the Porsche 550 one for me, eh? 😉

Check Stefan Marjoram’s sketch blog for the fresh calendar item daily, and try to be the first to that Etsy shop each day.

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Automotive Art Racing Ephemera Video

World’s Smallest V12

In case you didn’t already have a tremendous level of respect for home machinists. Just watching him turn that crankshaft is crazy, but then when he shows the valves… my brain melted.

Two cubic centimeters of displacement. 11.3mm cylinder bore. 10mm stroke. Stainless steel, aluminum, and bronze construction. Powered by compressed air.

Ready to drop in to Barbie’s Ferrari.

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Automotive Art Racing Ephemera

In Praise of the Illustrated Racing Program Cover

Keeping goofy “title sponsorship” logos off of program covers and event posters wasn’t a conscious design decision in the 60’s, but it’s one I wish more poster designers would make today.

I have a poster hanging in my house for the 1999 running of the Meadowbrook Historics at the Waterford Hills Road Races. Like the brilliant imagery presented here, it’s beautifully illustrated with bold colors and finely executed imagery of racing cars. Bugatti was the featured marque for the race and the poster features a gorgeously realized Bugatti-blue Type 35.

The color and composition are quite lovely, but then the sponsoring corporation’s logo is slapped across the bottom. “Tech-Sight”, it says, in anachronistically severe quasi-contemporary logotype. It tarnishes the poster with its poor design and placement and late-90’s generically futuristic branding.

I had to look up what the company was to write this post: It’s a subsidiary of defense contractor General Dynamics. Yeah, that’s the kind of thing people want hanging in their automotive art gallery: graphically dated defense contractor logos.

Thankfully, we can always look back at these marvelous American Road Race of Champions program covers to give us the essentials: evocative illustration, uncluttered typography, and the sanctioning body’s logo – if necessary. That’s it. Follow that equation, poster designers.

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Automotive Art Grand Prix

Ginther’s Bricks

Flickr user Biczzz has created this astoundingly nuanced sculpture of Ginther’s 1965 Honda RA272 from simple Lego. The level of detail Biczzz has managed to achieve here is really incredible. Sure, I’ve made my share of blocky Lego cars, but these gentle curves, the suspension bits, the windscreen! I’ve seen die-cast models with less detail.

Maybe with some practice, I could make a generic 60s F1 car from Lego. But this isn’t a generic 60s F1 car. You can plainly recognize it as the car that took Honda’s first victory in Mexico. Overcoming the constraints inherent in sculpting from Lego and still managing such a finely crafted result is absolutely fantastic!

Previously: Flying Bricks

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Automotive Art Classic Cycle

Evocative Classic Cycle Illustration

I’ve been searching high and low for the artist of this piece. Anyone know who did it?

Motor racing of every flavor has a rich tradition of inspiring artists but there seems to be something in particular about cycle racing that leads artists towards beautiful narratives.

Perhaps it’s simply because a motorcyclist’s body is exposed: Think of a cycle racer aggressively leaning into a turn, shoulders set, head leading the body, the tension between action and balance. It immediately evokes a mood, an attitude; the form just lends itself to storytelling. Even if we’re not trying to tell a story, the orientation conjures one in our minds.

Automotive artists may feel compelled to exaggerate the driving position of the pilot to help convey that mood. But with the cycle racer, the motorcyclist is so much a part of the form of the racing machine that the artist can naturally, or even unintentionally, combine them.

Either way, there’s so much absolute brilliance in these comic-like ligne claire illustrations that it both makes me want to hit the track and pick up the brush.

See the enormous collection of art pieces, advertising, and illustration in BullitMcQueen’s Flickr set.

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Automotive Art Ferrari

The Sporting Watercolors of Christopher Behrens

Christopher’s most frequent subject matter seems to be bicycle racers, but he occasionally turns his brush to vintage racing cars. Having tried my hand at watercolor at various times in the past, I’m always impressed by the level of control that it takes to make them successfully. As Christopher’s gallery shows, he’s definitely mastered the techniques. His representations of light cascading across the bodywork is light years beyond my “Brown Puddles” series.

Click on over to Christopher’s DeviantArt gallery for more.

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Automotive Art For Sale Grand Prix

The Ultimate Garage Wall Decor

Hard to imagine something better than this for your garage automotive studio wall.
Coys is offering this Jay Burridge sculpture as part of their upcoming Nurburgring auction on 13th August 2011. Look closer though, this isn’t just a sculpture inspired by Ayrton Senna’s MP4/6. It’s made OF one of Ayrton’s MP4/6s.

McLaren Formula cars are not in collectors’ hands—like the early Ferrari formula cars, each is dismantled for post-race analysis and reused or destroyed. This bodywork, though was given to Jay by Ron Dennis as the source material for the sculpture and even shows signs of wear from race use. There are peeling sponsor stickers, there are nicks and scratches from a weekend’s race.

The unfortunate timing of the completion of the sculpture, however, forced it into storage. Props to Burridge and Ron Dennis for not selling the sculpture in the wake of Senna’s death. Instead the sculpture seems to have been displayed at a corporate event, then hidden away—reemerging in ’04 for a Senna tribute at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Coys estimates it will bring €35,000 – €45,000. More at their lot details page.

Categories
Automotive Art Classic Sportscar

The Return of Stefan Marjoram’s Goodwood Sketches

Is it weird that I look forward to Stefan’s sketches more than I do photography from the Goodwood Festival of Speed? He just manages to capture something about the cars that simple photos cannot. I suspect it may have something to do with the more concentrated experience he has capturing the image. It’s one thing to stroll up to the back of the Marmon Wasp or Mephistophele, snap a picture, maybe pause to admire it briefly, then move on to the next car. Stefan has to find a comfortable spot to sketch and really look deeply at the car while he works. Don’t get me wrong, I love a well composed and shot photograph, but I can’t help but think that this extra consideration and closer study translates to an image that captures more than a quick snapshot would. See the complete set on Stefan Marjoram’s Flickr.

This is our third look at Stefan’s work, we’ve previously looked at his work here and here. What can I say? I love his stuff.