Before us is no ordinary car, but a memory resurrected in pixels. The digital artwork captures the front of a classic Pontiac, a mid-20th-century icon. The cool chrome still seems to catch the summer sun, as if to mirror stories of long drives down empty highways. The warm brown paint shines against the plain, almost otherworldly purple background, detaching the car from time and space-as if floating in a dream.
The artist has abandoned the realism of the photograph, opting for taut, almost painterly surfaces. This makes details such as the sheen of the bumpers and the curvature of the wings especially emphatic. The badge, sharp and bright, is a reminder that each vehicle once had its own identity and place in the world.
The image evokes nostalgia, but also movement. The grille and the lines of the bonnet point forward, as if the vehicle is ready for a new journey. Yet there is silence; the purple surface absorbs the ambient noise, leaving only the echo of the engine in mind.
This work is a dialogue between past and present: a classic car captured in digital paint. It makes us feel how technology, aesthetics and memory come together in a moment of still speed. Chrome and Shadow: Ode to the Road is both homage and question: where do we want to travel, and what do we take with us from the past?
Address: Zeist, Netherlands
Digital artwork after photograph by P.W. van den Berg
Completed on: 10-10-2025
I think the world is beautiful in many ways. I want to show that with my work. I make my subjects sparkle extra with idealisation... Read more…