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Damien Hirst X Audi A1 For Elton John’s AIDS Foundation

The luxurious love good art; and while the highly technical and calculatingly engineered modern marvels of automobiles seem to dwell in a different playing field from the freedom enjoyed by fine art, it is not difficult to see the stark similarity between both– a pursuit of perfection, and a belief that anything imaginable is possible. After Jeff Koons have joined the ranks of renowned artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichenstein to work with BMW to create the Art Car for the 24 Hours Le Mans endurance race, one of Britain’s most irreverent and most expensive living artists, Damien Hirst, has also lent his paint brush (or in this case, spin paint) to dress a new Audi A1 3-door hatchback (not yet running on roads) for Elton John’s AIDS Foundation Charity Auction.

The cotton candy pink audi A1 hatchback is a part of the new Audi A1 super mini class line-up. The A1 is designed to compete directly with the BMW MINI and Alfa Romeo Mito. The three-door models are aniticpated to start selling in continental Europe this summer, while it should be available for purchase in September for the United Kingdom. For this event, audi has released the car in advance of its actual release dates.

Hirst spin-painted the cotton candy pink car in his studio in Gloucestershire, and the car is auctioned off alongside a 1.8jm spin-painted canvas created during the production of the car. The car and the canvas fetched a handsome 420,000 euros at Elton John and his partner, David Furnish’ annual charity event hosted at their old Windsor residence.

The Hirst painted car has an interesting colorful yet decaying exhumed look from the spin painting, and definitely conveys a strong sense of painterly participation in the work. Since it’s a one-of-a-kind ride, it is not too difficult to figure out who paid the kind and generous price tag for this sweet car. via: Design Boom