Motoring / Cars and Bikes

Pop Artist Peter Blake Creates Unique Bentley

Long-established British pop artist works with the luxury car company for a bespoke one-off.

Apr 19, 2016 | By Staff Writer

The Peter Blake-styled Bentley Continental GT V8 S Convertible seems like a straight call-back to some older, bolder and altogether kitschier past. It has an exterior decorated with primary colors and strong geometric shapes, right down to the massively unambiguous heart shape painted on the hood. Honestly, it makes us think of Janis Joplin’s Porsche

The pop artist’s claim to fame was his pop-collages but he achieved special renown with his design for the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band Beatles album cover. Now he’s collaborating with Bentley for a one-off model that will be auctioned by Bonhams (as a part of this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed) on June 24 for charity.

In this case, all proceeds from the sale will go to the Care2Save Charitable Trust, which provides palliative and hospice care around the world. “The end of someone’s life should bring dignity, love and comfort both to the person who is dying and all those who care about them. We hope that this amazing car will deliver a lasting legacy of care,” said Andrea Ladeira, CEO of Care2Save. This charity also has another initiative involving Bentley that we find very clever indeed.

“I am proud to have been involved with transforming this beautiful car, and have enormous admiration for the people at Bentley who brought my design into being, to produce this one-off lovely car” said Blake. Blake’s art in general has been known to consist of a palpable sense of play, especially with the mixing up of old styles and new styles of art. Transferring that sense of play into a luxury product creates within the vehicle a certain exclusivity and of course nostalgic value.

Besides the exterior adornment, the Bentley will also feature the artist’s signature embroidered on the car’s leather seats, and even a playlist pre-loaded into the infotainment system of Blake’s all-time favorite songs. The finished product was completed with Bentley’s famous team of leather, paint and wood experts at their bespoke division, Mulliner.

With this marriage of artistry and established elegance, you can be sure that those avid collectors looking for models with that special je ne sais quoi will have something to whet their appetite. Find out more about the regular production car here.

This story was written in-house, based on an AFP report and other sources.


 
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