In many sections of the artistic world, there are names that just ring out at you thanks to their primacy in the field, recognisability of their work, and their willingness to promote their movement. For fans of the art car, Harrod Blank has taken up a fixed position as one of the most important people working in the field. Not least because, despite his own extravagant talents as an artist, he has devoted time to promoting the Art Car genre far and wide, through hid Art Car Agency wesbite which carries photographs and information of use to the curious newcomer or the interested collector.

Blank came to car art early in life, at the age of 16 when he came to the conclusion that his own car, an all-white VW Beetle, was simply too bland. Harrod decided to paint a rooster on the door, perhaps not knowing what he was about to let himself in for. He has never stopped painting on cars – or fixing things to them – since, and has one of the most talked about works of art car work to his name, with his “Camera Van” featuring 2,500 cameras affixed to its bodywork. Only eight of these actually work (six are for still shots, two take video footage), and on the passenger side, four TV screens show footage of whatever Harrod Blank wishes to show. It does a wonderful job as an interactive piece of art – as does Blank’s other work “Pico de Gallo”, which features playable musical instruments and a sound system – taking footage of people as they witness the van, not knowing which, if any, of the 2,500 cameras are real and functioning.

Harrod Blank, then, is a man who gets art cars. And the movement is better understood once you follow some of his work.