Images: Marten Ascenzo

PORSCHE has marked 75 years in Australia with a one off artwork by Australian painter Vincent Fantauzzo, painted directly onto the bonnet of a Porsche 911 Carrera and unveiled during the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Titled Sundown – Red Centre, the work draws its colour palette from a sunset Fantauzzo experienced while visiting Uluru. The piece will be auctioned during the Grand Prix weekend, with all proceeds donated to Make-A-Wish Australia.

Fantauzzo says the concept emerged through conversations with Porsche about how to mark the anniversary in a way that felt personal rather than promotional.

“Well, sketched out this relationship around this time last year, actually, at the Grand Prix,” he says. “They like my art. I love their cars. It’s something I aspire to and love since I was a kid.”

Both parties were also interested in using the collaboration to support a charitable cause. That became a chance to work with the children-focused charity Make-A-Wish foundation.

“We both have a passion for anything to do with how we can help children through a charity,” Fantauzzo says.

Rather than treating the car simply as a surface for decoration, the artist approached the Porsche bonnet as a sculptural form. He wanted the landscape painting to exist independently from the vehicle.

“I wanted to paint it on a bonnet, but not like it’s a Fast and Furious kind of project,” he says. “Whoever takes the art home, or has that rapport with Central Australia, I wanted them to be able to put it on their wall.”

The work itself reflects a moment Fantauzzo experienced in the Northern Territory that left a deep impression.

“It was overwhelming because it makes you feel almost insignificant,” he says. “You know when people say the truth is stranger than fiction? If you were to just make up that landscape, then people would say it’s not real.”

Standing at Uluru, he says the experience carried a sense of continuity with the past.

“I just stood there and I just thought way before we were here, there were people experiencing this exact same thing that I am.”

That sense of scale and history shaped the colours and composition of the painting, which recreates the shifting tones of a central Australian sunset.

Technically, the process differed from Fantauzzo’s usual portrait practice. He began with acrylic layers before finishing the surface in oils.

“I started off in acrylic and I finished it in oil paint,” he says, adding that the car bonnet turned out to be an unexpectedly satisfying surface to work on. “Once I coated it, it was an incredible surface to paint on.”

The charitable component also influenced how much time he devoted to the piece.

“Because of the Make-A-Wish, because it was Porsche and I was excited, and I think about my own children, I really spent a lot of time on it,” he says. “It’s painted with love.”

Sundown – Red Centre will be available to bid on auction from 5.00pm on Thursday, March 5, until 7.30pm on Sunday, March 8, during the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix weekend in Melbourne, with bidding open to the public and all proceeds going to Make-A-Wish Australia.

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