Photo: McLaren
Life is more beautiful in color. For car enthusiasts, life is more beautiful in color and at the wheel of a brand new hypercar, especially if said car happens to be the McLaren Artura that hasn’t even started deliveries yet.
McLaren and British abstract artist Nat Bowen teamed up for the Artura art car, which has now been formally introduced to the public. If you’re in Dubai at this time or are planning to be by the end of the month (March 2022), you can see it in person, as it’s been put on display at the ME Dubai hotel.
To describe this art car as eye-popping is probably an understatement, but that was the goal in the first place. Bowen is famous for her abstract art and her technique of layering colors, according to the principles of Chromology, the psychology of color. She does the same with the Artura, to the most striking effect.
Using translucent resin pigments, the Artura art car reflects and absorbs its surroundings, “becoming a part of the space it inhabits.” In laymen speak, that means that it uses a coat of resin with special tints that catch the light and reflect it differently depending on where you stand. In this way, it offers a personalized viewing experience to whoever is looking at it and, at the same time, an immersive one, which was Bowen’s aim from the start.
“My goal was to provide a truly immersive experience and transport the visitors into a meditative state away from everyday distraction, as well as allow them to further explore and develop their relationship with color,” the artist says in a statement.
A more cynical artsy type could read further into the message of this art car to note that it encourages distanced viewing. As such, it’s an object always to be admired from afar, never to be touched or, god forbid, experienced from the inside – let alone driven. As one would normally expect from a car.
Art-talk aside, it’s not like the Artura is made for common folk to enjoy other than through sight. The first series-production hybrid from McLaren, it comes with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 engine and an electric motor that deliver a combined 671 hp and 593 pound-feet (804 Newton-meters) of torque, good for a 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) time of just three seconds, and a max speed of 205 mph (330 kph). Pricing starts at $225,000.
To describe this art car as eye-popping is probably an understatement, but that was the goal in the first place. Bowen is famous for her abstract art and her technique of layering colors, according to the principles of Chromology, the psychology of color. She does the same with the Artura, to the most striking effect.
Using translucent resin pigments, the Artura art car reflects and absorbs its surroundings, “becoming a part of the space it inhabits.” In laymen speak, that means that it uses a coat of resin with special tints that catch the light and reflect it differently depending on where you stand. In this way, it offers a personalized viewing experience to whoever is looking at it and, at the same time, an immersive one, which was Bowen’s aim from the start.
“My goal was to provide a truly immersive experience and transport the visitors into a meditative state away from everyday distraction, as well as allow them to further explore and develop their relationship with color,” the artist says in a statement.
A more cynical artsy type could read further into the message of this art car to note that it encourages distanced viewing. As such, it’s an object always to be admired from afar, never to be touched or, god forbid, experienced from the inside – let alone driven. As one would normally expect from a car.
Art-talk aside, it’s not like the Artura is made for common folk to enjoy other than through sight. The first series-production hybrid from McLaren, it comes with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 engine and an electric motor that deliver a combined 671 hp and 593 pound-feet (804 Newton-meters) of torque, good for a 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) time of just three seconds, and a max speed of 205 mph (330 kph). Pricing starts at $225,000.
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