A RANGE ROVER AS ART

There’s a little bit of graffiti artist in all of us, but why bother with a brick wall when you could express yourself on a new Range Rover Evoque, writes Lindsay Duffield, President, Jaguar Land Rover Canada.

It’s what happens when you commission talented Toronto abstract artist Julian Altrows to get creative on a 2012 Fuji White Range Rover Evoque Coupe. Lucky for guests, he also accidentally had some extra marker pens lying around.

Jaguar Land Rover Canada signed up to be the official automotive sponsor for this year’s big Power Ball fundraiser at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery on Toronto’s waterfront last Thursday night.

It’s one of the city’s top social gatherings of the year. This year’s event marked the 25^th anniversary of The Power Plant, so the place was packed with a who’s‑who of 1,700 of Toronto’s artists, fashionistas, celebs and financiers from the world of film, advertising, music, design and art. It was quite a crowd.

As artistic expression is always at the forefront of The Power Plant projects, we thought we’d join in by having Julian get creative on our Range Rover Evoque. As the night progressed, the party‑goers became the artists as they picked‑up the marker pens and joined Julian.

Before long, we had crowds surrounding the car, having fun, and drawing their own messages on the paintwork. We had everything from “I want one” to “I’ll take this home” to “Love this Evoque.”

By the end of the evening, pretty much every centimeter of paintwork and glass was covered by messages and drawings in flourishes of multi‑colored marker.

Amazingly, it turned out to be a remarkable piece of exposure for our Range Rover Evoque. Here, during the course of the night, probably more than a thousand “influencers” from the world of art had gotten up close and personal with the car.

Here people were spending up to 30 minutes with the Range Rover Evoque, taking part or simply watching as the car was itself transformed into a work of art and actually became one of the exhibits.

How long did it take to get all the artistic graffiti off that lovely white paintwork? Actually, just a few minutes. We had the foresight to have it wrapped in white vinyl which peeled right off and brought the Range Rover Evoque back to its beautiful original form.