I’ve long been fascinated with the Art Deco era, and its aesthetics. Perhaps because I was exposed to so much Deco architecture when I lived in the New York/New Jersey — I was lucky to have worked at Rockefeller Center (a Deco epicenter), and Newark, NJ (surprisingly, filled with amazing Deco buildings) back in the 90s.

After moving to California, I was exposed to some magnificent pre-war cars through the region’s car museums (most notably, the Mullin, and the Petersen). These cars have very different proportions when compared to modern vehicles — longer and narrower. Though I find some too blocky, and upright, others (like the Talbot-Lago Type 150-C SS in this piece) are incredibly expressive.

I first saw this car at the (now closed) Mullin Museum, then later at the Petersen, and then at ArtCenter’s Car Classic concours. Each time was a treat. Its forms are organic, and flowing. Its body is sculptural in a way that no modern car can match. It is elegantly understated, compared to its contemporaries.

I adopted the style of automotive illustrations of the era, and tried to imparted feelings of movement and mystery in this piece. The real car is burgundy in color, but I didn’t feel compelled to be literal in this representation. By rendering it in a warm blue, I was able to create a relationship between the car and the sky. Using an orange/yellow pallet for the ground plane allows the car to visually “pop” towards the viewer… but by separating these colors with black, I was able to mitigate unwanted vibrancy.

Though this work was rendered in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, it could be created using analog means. Digital rendering is my preferred method of making art, but perhaps I’ll take out some paints or pick up an airbrush and explore this subject matter in a more analog way!