THE ART OF EVOQUE

In Paris, everywhere you turn there’s art on the street. It’s in the architecture, the sculpture, even in the shop windows, writes Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Design Director.

So to help build a little excitement for the global debut of our all‑new Range Rover Evoque at this week’s Paris Motor Show, we decided to create our very own street art.

We asked four well‑known Parisian artists to give us their interpretation of luxury, design, technology and sustainability, and base it around full‑size, wire‑frame replicas of our compact new Evoque.

But instead of displaying them in some posh art gallery, we took them to the streets, installing them at key Parisian landmarks, like the Pompidou Centre, the Palais de Tokyo, even floating one on a plinth on the River Seine with a backdrop of Notre Dame.

The idea really stems from who we want the Evoque to appeal to. We want this new small Range Rover to talk to a whole new group of customers; urban customers who are very design literate, cultured and sophisticated in an urban sense. Customers who have probably never considered a Range Rover before. Customers who see the Evoque’s appeal as its compact size, its sustainability, its urban orientation.

I know these wire frame installations have been provoking quite a reaction from Parisians who see them on the street. Personally, I love them. The ‘Technology’ piece done by Yorgo Touplas, the creative director at Intersection magazine, uses strips of neon light to highlight the flow of air over the Evoque. It’s terrific.

I was impressed with the ‘Sustainability’ concept done by Jérémie Rozan and Santiago Marotto at Surface To Air. They positioned the Evoque wire frame on a bed of broken tiles and pieces of shattered sculpture. It symbolizes the new Evoque emerging from a crumbling Paris, pointing the way to a new, sustainable future. Very clever.

The background to the wire frames themselves stems from Land Rover’s design process. When we take a vehicle from concept into production reality, we first create a wire frame version of it on the computer. We then build on that, adding surfaces and components.

To build the full‑size wire frames, we took that computer data and sent it to a supplier who created them from steel rod. We’ve built 15 so far and plan a lot more.

Of course, the timing for the wire frames to appear on the streets of Paris couldn’t have been better. Paris Fashion Week kicked off a few days ago and the city is buzzing with style and energy. And for the past couple of days, media events have been going on at the Paris Motor Show, so journalists from around the globe are here in mass.

What happens to the wire frame sculptures when they’re removed this weekend? We’re still trying to decide how we might use them as part of the Evoque’s global roll‑out. Me? I’d like to see them displayed in a major gallery because they are true pieces of modern art.

Of course, I’d love to have one for my back garden at home. But I’m keeping quiet about that.