Ian Cooks up a treat at Spark launch

With its vibrant colour schemes and youthful appeal, the Chevrolet Spark is already a car that will have immense appeal to the youth market.

But 26-year old artist Ian Cook decided to add his own splash of colour to mark the launch of the new model, by creating an image of Chevrolet’s new baby in a unique and inimitable way.

Cook, from Solihull, West Midlands, creates his images by driving remote control cars and rolling used car tyres through acrylic paint – he has created over 40 individual car artworks, and not one has seen a paintbrush.

“I’ve done several commissions for Chevrolet before,” said Cook, “so when the opportunity to be the first person ever to create an image of the Spark came along, I couldn’t turn it down. I’ve always loved Chevrolet cars, right back to models such as the classic Camaro, so as a car nut the association with Chevrolet is fantastic.”

As well as the Spark, Cook also created an image of the latest incarnation of the famous Chevrolet ‘bow-tie’ logo.

“It looks quite simple,” he said, “But the logo is actually very intricate. The angles have to be exactly right, and the criss-cross detail of the gold inside the bow-tie was difficult to replicate.”

The two images are Cook’s fifth and sixth works to feature Chevrolet. His first three – of the Camaro Convertible Concept, Beat Concept (which evolved into Spark) and Rob Huff’s 2008 Lacetti WTCC car were created live at the 2008 British Motor Show, while last year he did an image of Huff’s WTCC Cruze live at Brands Hatch during race weekend.

The young artist’s association with Chevrolet continues, as Cook will become the UK judge in the visual arts section of the pan-European Young? Creative? Chevrolet! competition,  which brings together art students across Europe to compete in a series of disciplines, including photography, video, fashion and visual art.