Motor racing driver Greg Murphy and artist Otis Frizzell. Photo / Supplied
Motor racing driver Greg Murphy and artist Otis Frizzell. Photo / Supplied
A prominent New Zealand artist and an award-winning race car driver have teamed up for a first-of-its-kind art piece.
The 120 by 60-metre art piece had race car driver Greg Murphy drive along lines that artist Otis Frizzell sketched while a long lens camera photographed the car's lights.
The live art installation took place over two days in an abandoned Mount Smart carpark and required months of planning.
The abstract art piece is an interpretation of a leaping Jaguar logo created with the lights of a Jaguar car.
Frizzell said he's been working on the pin stripping technique with red and white lines for years and the idea of using the lights of a car started as a joke.
Work in progress for shot of an artwork created by Otis Frizzell for a long exposure photograph of Greg Murphy driving a Jaguar F Pace to a set pattern. Photo / Supplied
"It's a bold and audacious attempt to recreate the logo with the lights of a car," Frizzell said.
"I never thought anyone would be crazy enough to try it."
Frizzell said you need stability with this kind of photography so a drone and helicopter were out of the question.
Instead, a 25-meter crane was hired so the camera had the vantage point to cover the parking lot.
"I had to design it wrong so it would look right in the camera. I had to walk it out with cones and bits of chalk. It looked like a weird mutated charging bull."
"On the day, I had to let go of what happened. There were a lot of happy accidents."
Four-time Bathurst winner and Jaguar brand ambassador, Greg Murphy said when he was approached, he was confused about how it would work.
Sketch for an artwork created by Otis Frizzell for a long exposure photograph of Greg Murphy driving a Jaguar F Pace to a set pattern Photo / Supplied
"I had to wrap my head around the whole concept. It was completely different to anything I had done before so when Jaguar proposed this, I was quite excited by it," Murphy said.
Murphy said the driving required precision rather than speed.
"It was very complicated. I had to hit the marks and co-ordinates."
Frizzell sat with Murphy to direct him to start but then Murphy was left to navigate on his own.
"Doing it in the dark was quite challenging. There weren't any physical markers other than faint lines."
"It's a bizarre form of abstract art using the largest paintbrush most people have used. It's an unusual piece and it delivers something completely different."
