Motorsport art by Klem

A mix of wild and mild

In one of those great moments of internet discovery, I came across some motorsport art by Klem, also known as Miha Klemen. On a site called Deviant Art, I found an artist skilled in both traditional styles and contemporary art. Klem eschews paint for crayons and markers in the contemporary realm. The more mainstream art pieces utilize old-school media such as colored pencils.

A good example of wild and mild versions of the same subject are Klem’s two takes on Mark Donohue’s Sunoco Ferrari 512M at top and in the gallery, bottom. Both excellent.

The same can be said of the two BMW pieces at left. One is the classic BMW CSL “jump shot” at the Nurburgring; Klem then extracts the car and pops it into a contemporary background for a completely different effect.

If I have to choose between styles, I’d prefer the more traditional Klem by a slim margin. It’s a realistic depiction of the cars as they ran, with a bit of style thrown in for good measure.

However, you can’t dismiss the the colorful movement in his most contemporary work. It’s a technique very similar to Randy Owens’ use of swashes of color to bring movement to a motionless canvas.

Art from a different angle

Klem also finds new angles from which to portray race cars. They almost look like on-board camera shots, even though they’re obviously not. He also seeks out subjects that are less common. Klem’s Ferrari F40 piece and Villeneuve’s wide-winged car (both below) are prime examples of well-chosen subjects..