Art-omotive pieces by musicians Chris Rea and Bryan Ferry up for sale
Driving home for christmas presents
CAR-FOCUSED artworks by musicians Bryan Ferry and Chris Rea are going up for sale, alongside pieces from other artists who have used the automotive form as their muse.
The pieces are available on the new website of Rockstarscars, which provides classic car advice to film and TV, as well as authenticating cars owned by celebrities.
Two pieces by Middlesbrough blues-rocker Chris Rea are up for sale. Rea has previously spoken to The Sunday Times Driving about how his father used to “weave tales of Ferraris, the Reims Grand Prix and the Mille Miglia. This stuff exploded in my head like LSD.”
The stories evidently manifested themselves in his buying habits once success came calling, with Rea buying himself a Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 after his single Fool (If You Think It’s Over) became a hit.
Ferrari also plays a large part in Rea’s artworks, with the Prancing Horse being a symbol that the seller says tethers Rea to his memories of childhood, as well as his Italian heritage: “When observing [Rea’s] paintings it is no surprise to be drawn into a profound and often dark world that is full of deep colour, history and strong emotion.
“The spiritual cord that still connects Chris Rea to the revered Italy of his childhood feeds an almost religious undertone to the way the subject matter of these paintings are expressed, dynamically displaying a deep reverence for all that is holy in the act of engaging with the great cars from Maranello and their spiritual settings.”
Rea’s paintings, Cavallino Rampante (“Prancing Horse) and Piazza with Ferrari, are both available for £14,995 on the Rockstarscars website.
The pieces by Ferry, who found fame as the frontman of Roxy Music and has had a successful solo career since, were painted in either the late 1960s or early 1970, after the famously suave frontman studied fine art at Newcastle University under the tutelage of Richard Hamilton, who is considered by critics to have been one of the pioneers of the pop art movement.
Ferry’s art was even exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1970, before he sold the works in order to pay for his Studebaker, a now defunct brand of Americana with vehicles that would look at home in Grease. Ferry once said of the car: “It was a beautiful machine… I think I spent more time pushing it than driving it because it was always conking out.”
Nevertheless, his admiration for American car manufacturing has continued, with Ferry reportedly taking ownership of a Chevrolet Corvette since.
Rockstarscars is offering three pieces by Ferry, which are thought to be the only three to have ever made it into private hands. The paintings are all abstract pieces, in shades of azure, purple and aquamarine, and have price tags between £24,000 and £36,000.
The site is also selling other automotive artworks, including a series of paintings by Chris Osborne of famous rock stars posed with their cars. Visit rockstarscars.co.uk.
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