Amilcar CGSS
26 November 2021
This painting is based on a vintage car.
The Amilcar CGSS was a sports car made by the French automaker Amilcar.
Amilcar – an imperfect anagram of the two names – was founded in 1921 by Joseph Lamy and Emile Akar and was particularly successful in the turbulent 1920s.
This car was the well-known C-model Grand Sport from 1927.
The second S in the name CGSS stood for 'surbaisse' and meant that this was the lowered sports version of this car.
The original idea was to restore this car.
From the 1970s, this sports car continued to deteriorate.
And so the body increasingly got the typical 'skin' that the car currently has.
The surreal character of a car with a spare wheel with missing tire gave me even more the idea of using this car in a painting.
I thought the lighting of the car as if it were presented at a motor show was a very good idea.
The difference between the weathered body and the motor show presentation could not be greater.
At the front of the car is a Barbary macaque with a torch.
It looks like the monkey wants to rekindle the fire in the engine and heart of this once infamous sports car.
A Sumatran tiger is resting on the hood.
This tiger species is the smallest of all tiger subspecies. There are currently about 800 Sumatran tigers left, 300 of which are in the wild.
This tiger rests on gold palm leaves. The gold palm, and other palms, were particularly popular as a houseplant in the 1920s.
Since the car was built in the 1920s, it seemed to me to be a particularly suitable plant to use in this painting.
Behind the wheel of this car is a gorilla with its son on the back. It looks like the young gorilla wants to show the way to his father.
For the road I also provided a banana in a leather bracket, mounted on the body.
On the right rear wheel is a white-handed gibbon as a falconer. He sends a white-tailed eagle to explore the route this company wants to take.
This white-tailed eagle also reinforces the direction that the little gorilla is pointing.
A painting of this size is rather exceptional for me and I only paint such works every year and a half on average.
Amilcar CGSS
Size: 61 x 122 cm
Technique: Oil on panel
Frame: American black box frame with a round warm silver front view
Location: Wim Bals Art Studio
Availability: This painting is currently available.
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