EXCLUSIVE: How Lewis Hamilton helped F1-obsessed artist realise dream
Artist Joel Clark tells mꦅahbx.com the story of his "dream come ๊true" commission from Lewis Hamilton.
“I nearly fell off my chair.”
That was how automotive artist responded to finding out he had been asked by F1 legend 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton to create a very special artwork.
Earlier this week it emerged Hamilton had arranged a parting gift forও 3,000 🉐of his former colleagues at Mercedes. Hamilton commissioned six artists to create a special piece for his co-workers at the team as a parting 𒈔gift following his deꦺparture from the Silver Arrows.
Hamilton, who won six of his seven world championships with Mercedes, comꦐpleted a blockbuster switch to F1 rivals Ferrari over the winter, but not before he thanked his former co♎lleagues with unique leaving presents.
The project was kept top secret by Mercedes to ensure their staff did not find out before they received the sp♔ecially commissionedജ artworks at the end of January.
Clark, one of th𒈔e artists who was chosen for the job, couldn’t believe his eyes when an unexpected email landed in his inbo🔯x last October.
“I had a completely random email from an agency that was handling the project, asking if I would be interested in working on a commission for a high-profile athlete and tha🌃t’s all the information that was allowed to be given and I agreed,” Clark told mah🦄bx.com.
as part of his leaving gifts to his teammates at . — Joel Clark (@JClarkArtist)For Clark, who has been a motorsport nut all of his life and a big 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Ayrton Senna fan, the chance to create a pie👍ce of art depicting Hamilton’s iconic comeback victory at the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, in Senna’s homeland, was the stuff of dreams.
5♔0-year-old Clark grew up in Brackley, where Mercedes’ F1 headquarters are based, and a stone’s throw from Silverstone, where he got his first job as a vinyl sticker maker after leaving school aged 16.
“I’d only just got off the floor to the chair only to fall straight back on th♛e floor again,” he continued. “I’m a huge [Ayrton] Senna fan so the combination of the two, and the whole emotions of being involved in what is one of the biggest stories in motorsport hisಞtory.
“I grew up in Brackley and my first job was at Silverstone where I learnt to work in vinyl for a sign company. We used to do lots of Touring Car teams back in 1990. S💧o the whole full story for me. It was ๊a hell of a project for me.”
Clark, who claims to be the only automotive artist who works with hand-cut vinyl, had around a month to complete his brief, which prove🧸d to be a challenge due to it being far removed from hi𓂃s usual comfort zone of depicting retro racing cars. He submitted four pieces in total, with his personal favourite also turning out to be Hamilton’s choice.
“Most of my automotive artwork is a lot more retro. I haven’t really gone past the 90s in terms of subject matter. 𝕴So taking on a co♔ntemporary F1 car and just the sheer detail on the things is crazy,” he explained.
“On a creative level, that was the challenge. That was my favourite, that was also Lewis’s and the agency’s favourite choice, so we were▨ all on the same table there. I guess just to capture what was such an amazing moment in Lewis’s time with Mercedes.”
A full circle moment
Having spent six years studying at Central Saint Martins art college in the early-to-mid nineties, Clark worked i🎃n advertising for 20 year🉐s. However, his itch for his true passion never left and he continued to dabble in his motorsport artwork.
The turning point came in 2013 at Kop Hill Climb, a local classic car meet, where Clark s𝓰old out most of his work. That prompted him to pursue what ha𓆏s now been a 10-year journey.
Clark’s unique favoureꩲd medium was inspired by the skills he picked up in his first job, which he now co꧂mbines with his love for motorsport.
“Being 1990 all the logos that had to be made for cars all had to be hand-cut, because there were no computers to scan any logos in and al🍌l that sort of stuff,” Clark said of his first job.
“I would turn up Monday morning after a race weekend🤡, whoever had crashed would say ‘we need another four Dunlop stickers’, or ‘we need another 20 Michelin stickers’, so I’d have to cut those out by hand.”
Explaining his love for vinyl as a medium, Clark added: “When it comes to the automotive🍎 art, it’s obviously got the same finish as the real car you are depicting, so it has a unique qu🦩ality in that sense.
“You’ve got natural reflections from whichever environment the artwork hangs in, which then blends with the highlights which I’ve put into the artwor▨k. That extends to when I do bits of Formula 1, where I extenuate all the highlights and lowlights across it. Because you are just working with bold, solid colours, I just love the impact it has and the idea of breaking down everything into a coloured shape.
“Essentially I’m making a jigsaw but I’m also making ꦚthe pieces of the jigsaw for each piece. Then it literally goes to a car body shop and has a clear coat, so it has the same finish again as the real car I’m depicting.”
On a personal level, Hamilton’s commission and the exposur🙈e which follows cou🥂ld be a “make-or-break” turning point for Clark, who acknowledges he is a “relatively unknown artist”.
“At the moment, in a cost of living crisis, not many people are buying work from relatively unknown artists. For me it’s kind of make-or-break,” he a💛dmitted.
“ಌWithout getting into a sob story, at the moment I’m month-to-month not knowing if I’m going to be paying rent each month. And so this exposure for me - it’s not an exaggeration - is make-or-break really. It’s beyond important.”
For Clark, 🅰it is “without a doubt” the highligh♔t of his career.
“In term🦩s of the significance of the project and just as a moment, not just in motorsport history but cultural history, I’d never have dreamt it,” he said.
"As an artist who does a lot of motorsport art, to be com✃missioned by a racing driver would be amazing, by an F1 driver even𓆉 better, but then the greatest of all time, it is off the scale. Beyond a dream come true.”
You can see more of Clark’s work on his.
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the w💜orld. Often reporting on the actio🌟n from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
