F1 Inspired Sculpture Exhibition Begins Today

There is something fishy going on these days in Chelsea. Former Honda F1 Chief Mechanic Alastair Gibson combined his passion for Formula 1 racing cars with his love for art into bold sculptures, which are displayed between April 23 (that's today) and 26 at the Chelsea Art Fair.

His masterpieces, as some might say, might leave you baffled once you see the mesmerizing blending between real F1 parts and familiar sea creatures.

Gibson's work has five representative sculptures to present: Racing Brown (a trout), Carbon Hammer (a hammer head), Racing Mackerel, Racing Piranha and his latest, Racing Mako (the fastest shark in our oceans).

The Mako Shark  is the most ambitious sculpture from the mechanic artist's portfolio, capturing the size of a real shark. All parts and materials used are from the BAR and Honda Grand Prix cars.

For example, its body is made of carbon fibre, its eyes are fuel tank flap valve plugs and caudal keels are 'fox ears' aero chassis bolt on. Per total, only ten pieces were used for the 2.5 m long shark.

Ten pieces were also used to build the trout, the hammer head and the mackerel. It's the piranha who asked for a bigger amount of parts, twenty-five to be exact.

"Art is seeing a common object in an uncommon way," is Alastair Gibson's message to his art viewers.

The artist works from his studio, called 'studio 45', near Oxford, England, where he lives with his family.  His works were first exhibited at the 2003 Lucky Strike Tribe Art Exhibitions (London, Tokyo, Milan, Frankfurt, Jakarta) and a solo event in Rome.