Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab drives the forty-year-old art car concept forward into the 21st century with collaboration between British street artist D*Face and the Virgin Racing Formula E Team.
Ahead of the launch of Moniker Art Fair, Kaspersky Lab and Dean Stockton, better known by his alias D*Face, have unveiled the first-ever Formula E art car, in East London. As a fervent supporter of the arts and motorsports, Kaspersky Lab is presenting its own unique take on the art car concept, made famous in the 1970s.
Kaspersky Lab wanted to breathe new life into the high-end hot-rod art car concept, by selecting a new set of wheels to work with and giving an accessible, urban artist free range to do what he wants with it. The result is D*Face imprinting his bright, bold and colourful artistic trademarks on the Virgin Racing Formula E racecar, turning it into the first Formula E art car ever made.
The car, emblazoned with “Save the World”, features several of D*Face’s iconic wings and acts as a vehicle to illustrate a powerful message – that art can empower people to make a change.
The medium is also the message, as although Formula E is in principle a sport, its raison d’être is to creatively tackle the issue of climate change and accelerate technological developments in the world of e-mobility.
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The art car is one of two new collaborations between the artist and the cybersecurity company. As well as the car, the artist’s design for the limited-edition boxes of Kaspersky’s Total Security v.2019 product was also presented at the art fair.
The car and Total Security v.2019 collaboration is the latest in a series of artworks celebrating the “Save the World” concept. The artist created a large-scale mural in New York and designed “art helmets” for Virgin Racing drivers Sam Bird and Alex Lynn at the season finale in New York.
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The London-born artist hopes that his work will force viewers to consider the notion that they have the power to be a superhero, stating: “Does everyone have a good and bad element to them, and how much does the bad outweigh the good? In times like now, we all need to take on the mantra of the superhero and help Save the World. It is time for all of us to stand together and make a change. Be that stopping data steals, addressing climate change and plastic waste or using damaging fuels. We all have the power to do one thing that will help make a change.”
