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Diederick Kraaijeveld with eloquent portrait of TwinSpark Racing's 1974 RSR in recycled wood

You may remember my blog entry about Diederick Kraaijeveld’s original artwork of a few months ago. On that occasion I told you he would be portraiting the Hulk for exhibition purposes. When I was away on Winter Trial 2011 “duty”, him and fellow TwinSpark owner Lex Proper rolled the Hulk into the daylight and Diederick cast his eye on the Hulk. He made a series of photo’s after shooting the breeze with Lex and disappeared!

Two weeks ago I started receiving messages that his Artful Highness had nearly completed the Opus Magnus and that we should set a date for viewing the work. Diederick had moved to a new location in Hilversum and having gone around the City Ring twice (…) despite clear route descriptions, I found my old high school mate’s new Lair. This place is even larger than the last one and my jaw dropped when I saw a series of portraits he has been working on since my last visit. This guy is GOOD!

Diederick had put a drape over the portrait of the Hulk and made me stand about 6 meters away from the wall and turn around. He explained the unveiling ceremony and counted down from three… I turned around and the image on the wall just blew me away. To create the illusion of the light playing on a viper gruen RSR he had managed to find all the right shades in his wood recycling collection. The pictures I’m posting here do not do the actual impression of the work justice the way a visit will. But trust me, the illusion of perspective is amazing.

Leonard Stolk, owner of the original car, after the unveiling

When you walk to the left of the portrait it is as though the headlights follow you with the stare…

Wood taken from billboards, floors and walls serve to mimic the play of light on the RSR's sculpted front end.

You can keep on looking at the craftsmanship and art of combining colors around brake cooling ducts, inside the headlights and the Porsche crest. From close up to further away the illusion created by Diederick unfolds. Diederick was particularly proud of the tow-hook in the bumper, which only consists of three pieces, but looks like it protrudes from the bumper yet is completely flat…

Details of headlight and towhook. At close range it becomes clear how many different colors of green have been used...

The piece will be shown at Techno Classica and in Dubai later this year at an art fair. More info about my artist-friend at www.oudhout.nl. Best of success to the most beautiful recycling business around!