When cars become the canvas

Gurnaaz Kaur

What started as a personal passion soon turned into providing a platform for artists to showcase their works. Called Cartist, the brainchild of Jaipur-based Himashu Jangid, brings the world of art and automobile together. Himanshu has been restoring cars for over a decade and in the process, he chanced upon some art pieces on cars and decided to start collecting them. At one point he fell short of space to place the paintings both in his office and house and that’s when he decided to do something more. “I almost stopped buying art pieces because there was no space left to display them. Some of the artists then shared their stories with me and told me what a struggle it was for them to sell their works and earn a living, that’s when I created Cartist. We at Cartist aim to give a new look to your love for cars and art,” Himashu says.

It has been three years since he launched the initiative and things look bright and beautiful. There are not just paintings on canvas, but cars painted in colourful motifs, art installations, handmade wire frames of cars such as Jaguar E-Type, Volkswagen Beetle, AC Cobras and sculptures made from scrap parts of cars. After having done annual exhibitions in Jaipur, last year Cartist did its first annual yatra that travelled across India for 121 days. It visited nine cities and brought over 1,000 artists together to cultivate their artistic talents. And in this yatra, 20 motorbikes, 22 cars became the canvas of the artists. After getting a plausible response in its first yatra, Cartist is all set for its second one. Chandigarh being one of its cities this year, the group did a prelude to introduce the city artists to the idea. During this display, it brought a giant ship container for amateur artist to have fun with colours. They also showcases painted Nano cars painted by artists from Pune, Gurgaon, Kochi. There were automobile artworks and household furniture made from scrap. “Starting on November 27, our Cartist Yatra 2018-19 is planned on the theme of unity. It would travel across 21 cities in 80 days and we will be bringing 1,000 artists from all walks of lives to display their works on automobiles. We are working to create some furniture and other usable products from car waste as a step towards environment preservation. It would also give a new and trendy look to one’s house.”

This amalgamation of words car, art and artist surely is creating a niche that promotes art through the medium of automobile. 

gurnaaz@tribunemail.com