One of the things that mark out art cars from so many other forms of art is the ability to take your art to its audience. Depending on how well your work has been done, you will find that it draws attention of varying kinds. If you have done a good job, then on a drive around town you can expect admiring glances from most of the people going about their business.

One art car that has done its job admirably is Kelly Lyles’ “Leopard Bernstein”. The Seattle-based visual artist, a well-traveled American with an eye for the whimsical. Her first art car, “Leopard Bernstein”, is a Subaru DL wagon painted in the colors and patterning of a leopard (unsurprisingly), and covered with hundreds of miniature “big” cats, has welded ears and a tail, and a licence plate that reads “GRRRAFX”. And he has proved so popular that Lyles has driven him for fourteen years, and her more recent work “Excessories Odd-yssey” has only recently seen the light of day.

Like her first car, Lyles’ second personal art car is festooned with adornments based on a theme. This time that theme is fashion, and the van she has chosen is covered with shoes, boots, jewelry and purses to reflect the artist’s own love of the world of fashion. As well as her own cars, Lyles occasionally takes commissions to create works for others, including a Toyota Hybrid that she decorated with pictures of birds for her friends, changing the “Hybrid” logo to read “Hybird”.