London XX November 2022
Sleeping With Art: The Art of Cars stunned the art and automotive world with a unique display of artistic creativity within the beautiful splendour of Hedsor House. Created as an immersive art and automotive experience, this unique art event returned for a second year following its inaugural event in 2021. Sleeping With Art blends the beauty of cars with the allure of art, acknowledging that cars themselves are art and bringing together automotive enthusiasts and art lovers from around the globe.
Over sixty artists exhibited previously unseen work at the event which included the largest car art collage installation to date, the result of over 250 entries from more than 100 artists across 26 countries.
In one of the largest displays of Art Cars ever seen, Sleeping With Art showcased a wide variety of moving art, including road and racing cars, the finest classics and the most modern of supercars. Many of the exhibits had been created by leading automotive manufacturers, with highlights including:
Polestar: As headline sponsor of Sleeping With Art, Polestar shared its annual Design Competition winning-entries – a competition created to encourage, support and shape what a more sustainable electric future could look like via a brief to design a Polestar that encourages societal progression. Sleeping with Art displayed of some of the entries chosen by the Polestar panel, which included Juan Pablo Bernal, Interior Design Manager for Polestar, and Design Community lead, who also spoke at this years event. In addition, the manufacturer displayed a Polestar 2 100% electric fastback on the lawns outside Hedsor House.
Lotus: The British manufacturer displayed the Lotus Evija Fittipaldi, the event was the car’s first public showing after its global unveil at Hethel in October. The Lotus Evija Fittipaldi celebrates 50 years since Emerson Fittipaldi won the F1 World Championship in a Lotus Type 72, the car was painted in the famous Black & Gold JPS colour scheme.
Briggs Automotive Company (BAC): BAC unveiled a unique art car created in collaboration with Rene Turrek, based on their One-of-a-Kind Mono Supercar. The artwork was created using light reflective paint and was displayed under ultraviolet light for the duration of the show. The event was also the first chance for art lovers to experience an amazing paper model BAC Mono developed by artist Florian Weber, known as Paperlegend, and a collection of NFT artworks of the BAC Mono designed by artists around the world.
Caton: The luxury coachbuilding brand focused on reincarnating luxury British icons, displayed its latest creation – Healey by Caton. Presented in conjunction with Scabal, with Salvador Dalí-style draping, the Healey by Caton was showcased for the first time as art itself.
Jayson Fong, a photographer, and artist, also presented his remarkable ink-on-paper depiction of the Healey by Caton which was created at Salon Prive London and publicly shown for the first time at Sleeping with Art.
Radical Motorsport: Radical Motorsport collaborated with London based artist Vic Lee to create an art car live at Sleeping with Art: The Art of Cars. Not only was the end result a stunning piece of automotive art, but the unique racing car will also be raced competitively within a Radical Motorsport race series
CALLUM: Visitors to Sleeping With Art will had the opportunity to see and experience the breadth of CALLUM’s latest design and engineering projects. On display was the Aston Martin CALLUM Vanquish 25. Originally penned by Ian Callum CBE, a fresh perspective, new materials, and advanced technologies allowed him to revisit his design two decades on, and over 350 design and engineering updates have been undertaken. Also presented was the CALLUM 529 by Annandale a limited-edition whisky, the CALLUM Lounge Chair and the Barq Rena Max, designed and engineered by CALLUM it presents a modern electric scooter created to support the demand for last-mile deliveries in the Middle East and North African markets.
Praga and Frank Stephenson Design: Sleeping with Art welcomed the Praga R1 designed by Frank Stephenson. The car is Frank Stephenson Design’s first Creative Partnership with Praga Cars, following his global design success with cars such as the MINI, McLaren P1 and the Ford Escort Cosworth. Frank Stephenson designed a bespoke racing livery for the Praga R1 which competed in the 2021 Britcar Endurance Championship.
Raven Cars: Raven Cars launched a magnificent Raven GTS Sleeping With Art Edition at the Sleeping with Art: The Art of Cars event. This new model will be available for sale on OpenSea in November, and was inspired by the Sleeping With Art, featuring the events brand colours and logo within its design.
Formula Woman: Sleeping with Art supported women in Motorsports by welcoming a very special Jaguar Project 8, raced by drivers Jodie Sloss and Erika Hoffman, to the event. The racing car was wrapped live during the two days of the event by Vehicle Wraps Yorkshire and will be in the circuits throughout the next season.
The racing drivers also gave a talk to air the challenges faced by female racing drivers sourcing sponsorship and the challenges presented when seeking motorsport opportunities and receiving due recognition for their talent.
Aston Martin Heritage Trust: Aston Martin Heritage Trust presented The Art of Aston Martin – what beauty lies within at Sleeping with Art. A very special drivetrain display which provided a rare chance to see a car from its inner workings. The AM28 engine, taken from V12 Vantage S, has peak power of 563bhp from a 6.0-litre V12 engine, and could accelerate the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S to a top speed of 205 mph.
Arkonik: The Arkonik brand presented ‘UJO’, the Land Rover which formed the original concept behind Arkonik. The car is based on a 1984 Land Rover 110 SW which has been remastered for modern motoring with an LS V8 engine, uprated running gear and unique restomod styling it features hand painted artwork on the chassis which depicts the Arkonik journey.
Exchange Art: Sleeping with Art: The Art of Cars welcomed Exchange Art as their NFT partner and sponsor. Exchange Art is the leading fine art marketplace for NFTs, offering the best-in-class NFT auction house and trading platform, together with premium advisory services to artists and institutional and private collectors.The company displayed car themed NFTs by Natalie Christensen, an ongoing series exploring the beauty and symbolism of contemporary and vintage automobiles in the American Southwest.
Jason Bruges Studio: Jason Bruges Studio has become internationally renowned for producing innovative installations, interventions and ground breaking works and creating extraordinary projects for automotive brands such as Aston Martin, BMW, and Genesis among many others.
The studio presented one of Jason’s latest pieces entitled Standing Shadow I, an exploration of presence and absence, the artwork is animated by movement, and as people pass by it comes alive, revealing figures as dynamic silhouettes of light. Jason also took part in the “Process of Creation Talks” during the first day of the event.
Artist Heidi Mraz
Heidi Mraz’s Petal to the Metal concept shown how supercars can be both objects of beauty and engineering. Heidi handcrafted the semblance of exotic flowers out of layered paper cut from car magazines and images taken from her own camera and ‘rooted’ them to a bed of brushed aluminium sheet metal. The engineered ‘power plants’ are masterfully styled similar to a vintage floral print. Botanical descriptions are replaced with car statistics and black line drawings are made of the featured vehicles rather than flowers.
Artist Tom Hill
British sculptor Tom Hill created a unique sculpture for the event which is the first car he’s ever sculpted. The 250 GTO was born from his love of cars, motorsport, and anything with an engine. It is made entirely of 316 marine grade stainless steel; the form of the sculpture is created using a superleggera technique bending a round bar structure using pictures a reference. Each piece of stainless sheet is hand cut and shaped using a sandbag and a hammer. The sculpture captures the essence of an iconic car with the feeling of speed as it looks like it’s floating.
The Sleeping with Art concept was created by Renata Fernandes from Five Star Trilogy. Speaking after the event Renata said, “It was a true honour to be able to welcome and display so much talent and innovation under one roof, during our second year. Many of the projects displayed took many months to be created, over 1000 people were involved in the creation of all the art cars and works of art displayed at Hedsor House. I would like to thank all exhibitors and sponsors for their support and dedication to the automotive art movement and I look forward to presenting Sleeping With Art: The Art Of Cars again next year.”
