Costa designs the OAK Racing Art Car for the 90th anniversary of the Le Mans

OAK Racing has asked French sculptor Fernando Costa to design the Art Car on which the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has bestowed the title ‘Official Art Car for the 90th Anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hours.’

Costa, a passionate lover of motor sport and the Le Mans 24 Hours in particular, is the ideal embodiment of the spirit of this work of art, which combines a homage to the Sarthe classic and road safety. His favourite material is road signs, which he recuperates, assembles and welds. His welded panels tell stories about situations or create ambiences, often with a touch of humour, and bridge several artistic currents like the New Realists, Pop Art and Street Art. The man is reflected in his work as it has a rough edge to it, yet it is full of subtlety.

This sculptor/welder was born in Sarlat on 29th December 1970 and began his artistic career some 15 years ago.

Since 2002, Fernando Costa has had exhibitions in France and abroad on a regular basis in International Art Festivals and in galleries in Paris, New York, Geneva, London, Madrid, Brussels, St Tropez and La Baule. He has attracted an international clientele of some of the best-known fans and collectors in the world. Since 2011, he has been working with Speed Art, an artist’s agency and courtier specialised in contemporary art whose universe revolves around power and speed.

Costa’s OAK Racing Art Car will be officially unveiled on 31st May during the evening organised by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest in the Georges Pompidou Centre for Art and Culture in Paris for the 90th anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hours. It will take part in the Sarthe race with the team’s other two LM P2 prototypes.

Jacques Nicolet, OAK Racing President: “For me, my passion for the Le Mans 24-Hours race is intimately linked to its history and the numerous bridges created over these ninety years between the event and different aspects of social life. The whole OAK Racing team gains immense satisfaction from perpetuating one of these bridges through its Art Car, and it also confirms its deep involvement in the world of endurance. My meeting with Fernando Costa not only made it possible, but also evident. Costa’s work speaks to everybody, young and old alike, art lovers or neophytes. His personality and his mode of expression are in total osmosis with the subject, and the artistic expression of my expectations far exceeds my hopes. I’m sure that this work of art will attract a great deal of interest.”

Fernando Costa, artist/sculptor: “In my meeting with Jacques Nicolet and the bringing to fruition of this project, the most important thing for me was the confidence entrusted in me and the challenge it represented. As I like challenges I accepted straight away! But what artist would pass up the creation of an Art Car for the Le Mans 24 Hours? And when, like me, one is a lover of this legendary event, this very popular motor sport party, you throw yourself into the adventure hoping to put a smile on people’s faces and give them a little happiness. I’m very honoured that the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has made this Art Car the emblem of the 90th anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hours.”

Cyrille Taesch Wahlen, creator and director of Speed Art: “It’s an honour and also a great source of joy to be part of such an adventure. For a lover of contemporary art and the Le Mans 24 Hours, an Art Car is the ultimate expression of the meeting of these two worlds. I’d like to thank Jacques Nicolet for his trust and his great daring, and I’m delighted that he’s enabled Fernando Costa, in collaboration with Speed Art, to add his name to the list of prestigious artists who have designed an Art Car.”