CAR ART EXTRAORDINAIRE

CAR ART EXTRAORDINAIRE Southern California is recognized as home to the world's best in entertainment, aerospace, and automotive design. Lots of trends either originate or become refined here, including car styling, which began with Harley Earl's custom designs for Hollywood stars back in the 'Twenties. More than half of the world's top car designers trained at the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, the oldest school of car design (celebrating 75 years this year!). In the past 30 years, companies from Detroit, Japan, Germany, Korea, England, Sweden, France and Italy have all at one time or another set up car design studios in the Los Angeles area, half of them in Orange County alone. Moreover, many of the most distinguished members of the elite Automotive Fine Arts Society (AFAS) work here in So Cal, unveiling their latest paintings every year at the world's premier exhibition of automotive art, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. In 2002, this unique environment gave rise to a new company: Car Art, Inc. of Laguna Niguel. Car Art offers the World's Finest Automotive Art, by renowned car designers and fine artists. Peter Aylett, a British born automotive design engineer, founded Car Art after a 25-year career in Europe and North America. Peter developed an early appreciation for the art of car design, particularly '50s American fins, '60s Italian exotics and British sports cars. His work with Ford and Lotus in England, Mercedes in Stuttgart, GM in Detroit and Los Angeles, Nissan in San Diego, and Mazda in Irvine, California, helping create exciting concepts like the Corvette Sting Ray III and coveted sports cars like the Lotus Esprit, De Lorean and Mazda RX-8. Peter began Car Art with this idea: Your favorite car in art ...by the car's designer! CarDesignerArt.com thus began by selling signed, limited edition prints of car designers' artwork.

Car Art now showcases car designers and fine artists in one convenient resource: Numerous masters of automotive art immortalize the most beautiful designs of classic marques. A growing body of artwork, many exclusive, include originals, limited edition prints and posters, ranging from European sports and racing to American muscle and classics, in every decade since cars were first made in America. Each artist has his or her own webpage with a photo, biography and gallery of art.

Peter's former colleague at Mazda R&D, Wu-Huang Chin, became Car Art's inaugural artist, with art of his RX-7 design. Other renowned car designers have since joined Car Art from Europe and the USA, with artwork reflecting their real-life designs, including Maurizio Corbi's Ferrari 550M, Henrik Fisker's BMW Z8, Camilo Pardo's Ford GT, and even Chuck Jordan's 1960 Cadillac Eldorado. Car Art's website expanded when automotive fine artists came to Car Art's stable, most of them members of the prestigious AFAS. They include former car designers such as Ken Eberts, Jack Juratovic and Charles Maher. In fact, the Society was founded at a meeting in Detroit by six artists in August 1983, and has since become the gold standard of excellence in automotive art. You may be familiar with AFAS Vice President Bill Motta, who was Art Director at Road & Track magazine in Newport Beach for 40 years. Sculptor Richard Pietruska is also a teacher at Art Center, where he has taught many top car designers. Other award-winning fine artists have joined from England, France, Germany, Canada and Argentina. Our love affair with cars is uniquely individual: it may be the first one you drove as a teen, the red sports car you own today, or that rare classic beauty you always wanted. Whether a tail-finned Chevy, sleek Jaguar, or custom-bodied Bugatti, you can't help but love the way it looks! Many dream cars are seemingly unattainable or unaffordable. Fortunately, those of us who haven't reached celebrity status just yet can still purchase those dream cars easily, as works of art. For more information on Car Art, go to www.carartinc.com

Artwork above by Ken Eberts, AFAS Editor's Note: A graduate of Art and Los Angeles’ Art Center College of Design, Eberts began his career as an automobile designer for Ford Motor Company. In 1968, he turned his attention toward automotive fine art, and has been a full time automotive fine artist ever since. Over 1,000 of his original paintings are in public and private collections worldwide. Many thousands of his prints and posters are displayed in automotive and art enthusiasts’ homes and offices. His paintings have also been reproduced as magazine and book covers, Christmas cards, and posters to commemorate automotive events One of today’s foremost automotive fine artists, Ken Eberts’ artwork has been featured at the world’s most prestigious automotive events. Ken is a Founder of the Automotive Fine Arts Society, and has been its President. The AFAS Exhibition serves as a featured part of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance each August.