CHROMATIC PULSE

Chromatic Pulse

Mural artist Drez on the challenge of hand painting a Porsche 992.

“The decision to hand-paint the Porsche was essential for me. Across everything I do, I want to keep that human element present.”

Created in collaboration with Porsche Melbourne, every line on this Porsche 992 art car by Australian artist Drez was painted on by hand in one of the most beautifully colourful celebrations of the 911 shape that we’ve ever seen. The linework is so precise that from a distance, it looks as though it was applied by machine. Up close to the surface however, you begin to notice the brush strokes and appreciate the amount of time that went into it. Speaking to Type 7, Drez tells us more about how he came to this particular style.

“My name is Drez, I’m an artist based in Melbourne. I started out with graffiti when I was about 16, painting classic New York-style lettering before branching out into more abstract and experimental approaches. Around 2019, I began shifting my focus towards geometry, spacial interaction and colour, that’s when my ‘Chromatic Pulse’ style really started to take shape.

A key point of difference to my geometric work is my freehand approach. The subtle wobble or inconsistency of the human touch adds a vibrational movement to the work, it creates this optical interaction between colours as they ripple into each other in a way that feels alive and grounded in painting and emotion rather than digital imagery. My work tends to explore that tension between precision and imperfection.

I pulled the colours from the Porsche crest to inform my palette, it wasn’t until I started physically painting that the final concept took shape. I painted intuitively to the car’s curves, adjusting the composition and colours as I went.”

Art cars are a very particular medium. Within the painting world, there really aren’t a lot of challenges like it. Far from a flat canvas, the artist has to make sure that whatever they’re going to paint is going to work well with a whole host of complex curves and fixed components. Drez treated the project as a natural extension of his mural work, in which a pre-existing context already informs a large part of how he paints.

“There’s an exciting challenge introduced when painting a car. Unlike a wall, which is static, a car moves, it’s viewed from constantly shifting perspectives, it has its own curves, angles and energy. This variation is exciting to me, as there’s so much potential for life within the artwork.

"I’ve always been interested in cars and the nature of objects built for movement. As my work is all about creating a sense of motion, bringing this approach to an object designed for motion has always excited me."

When approaching the design for this car I started the process digitally, playing around with how colour and linework could reimagine the form. I looked at how the direction and placement of the lines would emphasise movement and draw attention to certain features. I used light and dark transitions to to amplify the car’s natural flow, choosing brighter colours around the lights to highlight their glow and darker tones on the bonnet to give a sense of weight and motion. The rear has a horizontal gradient that wraps the curve, making it feel more expansive.

I’ve always been interested in cars and the nature of objects built for movement. As my work is all about creating a sense of motion, bringing this approach to an object designed for motion has always excited me. There’s a sculptural element to cars, which naturally captured my curiosity as to how I could incorporate my responsive approach.”