Your car is an extension of your personality. But what about your driving style? Lexus teamed up with an artist, a multimedia agency, and a collector to create a real-time portrait of the driver based on their acceleration, braking, steering, and speed. And the results are spectacularly surreal.
A Lexus IS 300h hybrid sends data from its myriad computers to custom software created by the Belgian firm Happiness Brussels. That software – with a pre-installed photo of the driver, art collector Walter Vanhaerent – renders his photo in the style of Spanish multimedia artist Sergio Abliac. If Vanhaerent drives conservatively, using the Lexus' hybrid-electric drivetrain, calming blues and greens subtly render his portrait. With his foot on the floor, the gas engine kicks in and the palette evolves, with stronger, bolder brush strokes in darker, more vibrant colors. And it gets even more abstract.
"Thanks to the software, I have been able to clone my creative process and way of painting," says Abliac. "Creating a sort of technological assistant that generates my work."
In another nod to the art world, the modified Lexus hybrid is being auctioned off, with bids (as of this writing) starting at 45,100 euros. Finally, functional art.
