American artist Richard Phillips has collaborated with Porsche to create the company’s first all-electric art car. The Taycan Artcar was displayed at the Leuehof pop-up restaurant in Zurich, Switzerland over the winter and will be auctioned off via RM Sotheby’s from April 6-13, 2021. Process from the sale will benefit Switzerland’s non-profit association Suisseculture Sociale.
“Porsche’s first purely electric sports car, the Taycan, represents a new chapter in the company’s history,” says Michael Glinski, CEO of Porsche Schweiz AG. “We wanted to capture this achievement by working together with a leading artist. The result is this creation, which reflects the guiding principles of sustainability and electromobility and of course also places a strong focus on nature in Switzerland. By auctioning the work and donating the proceeds we want to help the Swiss cultural landscape, which has been hit especially hard by the pandemic. Porsche has set a confident course through this crisis and we are eager to give something back to the community.”
Creation of the car started with a bare Porsche Taycan 4S. Then, Phillips applied his large-scale painting from 2010 entitled “Queen of the Night” to the car. The original work was inspired by legendary Swiss landscape artist Adolf Dietrich.
The car features a three-dimensional arrangement of elements and details of the 86-square foot painting flowing organically up the front hood over the front fenders and across the doors. As it approaches the rear of the car, the artwork glides over the roof and fenders and the flora opens to reveal a blue sky and butterflies.
The Artcar has been fitted with customized touches from the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur: the illuminated door sill panels are inscribed “Queen of the Night” and door projectors illuminate Phillips’ signature onto the underfloor when the door is opened.
“The Queen of the Night livery culminates at the rear of the car with its namesake blossom wrapping completely around the bumper while being dramatically lit up by the Taycan’s signature horizontal light bar,” as Phillips explains. “Conceptually, my Queen of the Night livery takes into consideration that the design of the Taycan is an instant icon of electric mobility and speed.
The Artcar is the second collaboration Porsche has worked with Phillips. The first was in 2019 when Phillips worked with the company’s factory driver Jörg Bergmeister to design a Porsche art car, which then made history at the 24-hour race in Le Mans. When the Porsche 911 RSR from Project 1 Motorsport crossed the finish line to win the GTE Am class, it was the first art car ever to take the laurels.
RM Sotheby’s will auction the Taycan Artcar. The online auction will start on April 6, 2021, and run for seven days until April 13 on: www.rmsothebys.com. The lot includes an exclusive individually tailored tour of Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen – the birthplace of the Porsche Taycan – with Porsche AG’s head of the Taycan model range.
