KEY POINTS:
Millions of motorsport fans worldwide will this weekend get a glimpse of the work of Auckland artist Mark Olsen - on a race car running in the Le Mans 24-hour event.
British race team CreationSport commissioned the St Heliers man to "redefine the visual appearance" of one of two V10-powered cars it has entered in the annual classic.
The result is unlike anything ever seen on a race track - a car painted with seven child-like portraits set against a midnight blue sky filled with stars.
The portraits represent the seven countries - France, England, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Brazil - that host the Le Mans Series of races, endurance events based on the French classic. Olsen calls it The Children of Le Mans.
The commission came after a chance meeting in a London restaurant between Olsen and CreationSport owner Mike Jankowski.
The restaurant, near New Zealand House in Mayfair, has some of Olsen's paintings on its walls. Jankowski is a regular at the eatery and an admirer of Olsen's work.
"Mark has produced a work that links the car directly with the Le Mans Series of races and its peoples," says Jankowski. "To me it is magical, colourful and a fun fantasy world where children of all nations meet in their sleep. Hopefully, everyone will smile when they see it."
Olsen says he wanted something that gave people "a lasting image of the car long after the race is over".
"Mike and I talked about the teams' values and philosophy and, from my perspective, it came down to having kids on the car. Vitality, energy, imagination, total acceptance of others - and fun."
The Brazil leg of the series is represented by a child dressed in a verdant green tunic, wearing a Toucan (Brazil's national bird) hat with a pendant in the shape of a football.
Italy's is a child dressed in electric blue with a golden hat in the shape of the Colosseum.
After Le Mans, the car - named Creation CA07 - will race in the remaining four LMS events, in England, Belgium, Germany and Brazil.
Olsen is the winner of this year's Telecom NZ Art Awards.
"Creating art is not about finding freedom - it is about finding obstacles," he says. "When things seem under control I realise I am not pushing myself enough."
