The art car is a chameleonic entity. We can define the term “art car” up to a point, but any quick, simple definition will give only the most basic idea of what to expect when you clap eyes on one. The most simple is the car that has simply been painted onto. The only limitation with these cars is the boundaries of the imagination of the artist. Tim McNally’s “Plaidmobile” is an example of where the imagination can go. Decked out all in tartan, it brings a completely new meaning to “Pimp My Ride”. The broad Art Deco strokes of Emily Duffy’s “Mondrian Mobile”, meanwhile, are an Andy Warhol dream made steely flesh.

We also have the Audience Interactive approach. Art car legend Harrod Blank has one of the most notable examples of this genre of art car, having decorated an entire van on its exterior with numerous cameras of different kinds, allowing the audience to be captured permanently on camera as he drives it around, catching their perplexed expressions and looks of joy. While artists Lissie Fein and Peter King have taken the idea down to its most simple, with the Write On car allowing onlookers to add to the art and give their own slant on the idea.

The Conceptual Structural approach, meanwhile, allows the artist to turn the car into something else entirely, be it a giant shoe, a chrome shark or a telephone. Dennis Clay has provided one of the greatest examples of this style with his Mirror Image – a VW Beetle with an upturned replica of itself on top. A staggering piece of work, this is enough to make anyone stop and look. There are many, many other classic examples, too many to list here. For some examples, one only has to look at Harrod Blank’s “Art Car Agency” website: http://www.artcaragency.com/index.html.