Rust Is His Palette: The Automotive Art of Bo Lundvang - NYTimes.com

Long the scourge of car collectors in the Salt Belt states, rust has become a subject of aesthetic interest in recent years, with various concours adding juried categories with euphemistic names like Preservation Class. A Swedish artist, Bo Lundvang, is channeling the trend into an oxidized form of pop art, projecting desirable automobiles against a backdrop of rusted steel.

For the owner of a rust-prone classic, there are few more salient, or attractive, reminders that only constant vigilance can keep the dreaded tin worm at bay.

An automotive writer and media polymath, Mr. Lundvang, whose work we first spotted on Autoblog, is a writer for Bilsport, a Swedish automotive magazine in its 50th year of publication. He is also a resident of Vasteras, Sweden, home to Power Big Meet, one of the largest rallies of vintage American cars in the world.

?Cars are what fill my head most of the day, but it?s the shapes that draw my attention, the design,? Mr. Lundvang wrote in an e-mail. ?A correct curve can really set things off for me. Well, the sound could too, but I can?t fix sound on sheet metal.?

Mr. Lundvang said he was struck with the idea of creating rust art while painting a wall mural in the house he shared with his four daughters.

Each rusting, as he calls it, begins with a rendering of the desired image in a computer program. The finished image is sent to a vinyl cutter that produces a stencil from a large piece of adhesive vinyl, which Mr. Lundvang then affixes to a piece of bare steel measuring roughly three feet long and 1? feet tall. With the stencil in place, the artist applies a process ? ?my own little secret,? he said, refusing to say more ? that speeds the oxidization and regulates the formation of rust. When the stencil is removed, the image stands in smooth, gray steel against a background of deeply textured rust. Lastly, the entire work is covered in a sealing agent to protect against further oxidization. Mr. Lundvang creates no more than two pieces per month.

Interest in the art has crossed over into lifestyle and design blogs. Stirling Matheson, a writer for Complex.com, quipped, ?Just like the Italians did in the ?80s, Swedish artist Lundvang uses rust to make cars.?

Mr. Lundvang is cagey about any eras, countries or brands that he favors. ?If I could immortalize some of these lines with my own hands and feel I got it right, I?m more than happy,? he said. ?If others like it, I?m glad too, but I must love it first.? His online gallery evinces an interest in modern hypercars like the Lamborghini Aventador and Koenigsegg CCX, as well as American muscle cars like the Dodge Charger.

The works are for sale on his Web site, with prices for predesigned work starting at $1,500, and special commissions costing more.

Source: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/rust-is-his-palette-the-automotive-art-of-bo-lundvang/

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