Refik Anadol’s recent artwork uses colour references of every Rolls-Royce motor car created in the past decade.
British luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce continues to champion inspiring greatness, since it lies at the heart of the brand ethos. Whether it’s carefully crafting the epitome of true luxury, or engaging and servicing the needs of their global discerning clientele, Rolls-Royce continues their commitment with the introduction of their ‘Inspiring Greatness’ interview series.
In this first episode, Rolls-Royce speaks with media artist Refik Anadol – who’s also a recent fellow of MUSE, the Rolls-Royce Art Programme – to talk about his personal inspirations and explore his approach in advancing our understanding of the world around us by using art and technology as his medium.
The artist’s recent artwork, called Art of Perfection: Data Painting was made using data sets from Rolls-Royce, and had a worldwide public debut at his hometown during Frieze Los Angeles earlier this year, exhibited at The Peninsula Beverly Hills.
When you first lay your eyes on Art of Perfection: Data Painting, what appears to look like a mesmerising, rich watercolour or resin painting actually consists of an LED “canvas”, conveying a unique digital painting derived from data captured at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ Surface Finish Centre. The data collected actually related to the colour reference of every Rolls-Royce motor car created at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England, over the last decade. It’s combined with information that’s generated by the programmed robotic movement required for the perfect application of the surface finish to each bespoke commission.
“It gives me great pleasure to hear from Refik Anadol regarding his captivating interpretation of the paint colours derived at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England, over the past 10 years. Now, more so than ever as the Surface Finish Centre rests amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Anadol’s artwork allows me to reflect on the great things that have come from our Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence, whilst we focus our attention on many inspiring things to come in the future,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
“For an artist working with technology, when I got the opportunity to work with MUSE, The Rolls-Royce Art Programme, it was one of those rare moments in life,” commented Refik Anadol. “When I visited the plant and saw the process of creating the motor cars, I witnessed an invisible world of perfection – humanly perfect, not just machine perfect – an incredible amount of ideation, technology and feelings embedded into the art of perfection. That was a pure inspiration.”
As an artist, Anadol explores how the perception and experience of time and space are radically changing now that machines dominate our everyday lives. His site-specific audio-visual performances have been presented internationally at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles USA; International Digital Arts Biennial, Montreal, Canada; and Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria.
Art of Perfection: Data Painting will be presented on permanent display at Rolls-Royce’s global headquarters in Goodwood, England. The film can be viewed on Rolls-Royce Motor Cars website.
Photos: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
