At Birmingham’s RBSA Gallery, the region’s manufacturing history is being celebrated in a new exhibition of classic motor vehicle drawings, which have been reimagined as contemporary artworks by Alan Reullier in his first major UK exhibition, The Art Of A Second Life.
Throughout his successful career, French artist, sculptor and designer Reullier has collaborated with industrial and aerospace giants such as Dassault, Iveco and Faiveley Transport. For this solo show, he has repurposed engineers’ drawings of some of the Midlands’ best loved classic car brands: Rover, Leyland, Land Rover Triumph, MGs and vintage Minis.
Due to be destroyed, he rescued hundreds of original blueprints from The British Motor Museum via British Motor Heritage. Among them is the mechanical plan of a Land Rover, which Reullier has encircled with his own spontaneous black and white patterns. Geometric shapes converge, conveying a sense of movement, energy, and vibration on the ageing, archival paper.
Rather than drawing over the originals, Reullier has worked around their edges and in the gaps between cars’ parts, reclaiming negative space. Working in the margins, as an outsider artist of sorts, is reflective of Reullier’s own humble origins. As a teenager, his career started on the streets of northern Paris, where he spray painted crumbling walls in his working-class neighbourhood.
To gain financial independence, the artist then joined both the French Navy and the Air Force, where he served for eleven years as a chief aircraft mechanic. This experience introduced him to a world of precision, innovation and design, while granting him privileged access to aircraft engine parts, tools and industrial artefacts, that have become central to his practice.
Reullier’s respect for the original technical designs is evident, as he creates a synchronicity between the original artistry and his inventive additions. “I’ve worked with the history”, he says, “and spend a great amount of time seeking, finding and researching stories”, which he then reframes in his intricately-detailed artworks.
Among the stories which he has included is that of the Peaky Blinders: the recognisable cast of characters, rendered in realistic terms and period costume, border a sleek 1940s car in ‘Legacy of Birmingham’. Once again, Reullier’s street art background is evident in the mural-like composition, which fans can buy as a limited-edition print.
More modernist, colourful designs infuse other drawings, which he’s enhanced with the use of Posca acrylic pens. Wonderfully decorative panels and swirling designs point to the influence of Gustav Klimt, whose paintings have a metallic quality. Reullier invites the viewer’s eyes to move between past and present in works which “save the discarded”, elevating the obsolete to masterpiece status. As he says:
“It’s an honour to collaborate with British Motor Heritage and contribute my artistic vision to their historical legacy. I’m inspired by the opportunity to push the boundaries of traditional automative design and create something truly unique that resonates with auto enthusiasts and art aficionados alike.”
For Reullier, “there is no such thing as rubbish”. Drawing inspiration from the Arte Povera and Readymade movements, which saw the likes of Duchamp transform raw materials into gallery-worthy artworks, he has not only reframed blueprints but constructed sculptures from discarded materials. Jet engines, steel, tube carriage doors and titanium are among the artist’s materials, which he combines to create playful robots, skilfully twisting them into life with connecting wire. Among the sculptures on show is his replica of legendary character King Kong who the artist identifies with: “having escaped the suburbs of Paris, he represents my personal story”.
Despite his toolbox of mechanical materials, Reullier takes inspiration from the natural environment, too. Light catches tiny round and repurposed dental mirrors in one of the show’s highlights, ‘Reflection’, which still seems to be growing upwards, shimmering and magnetic.
Meanwhile, wing-like structures look poised to flap in ‘Areosculpt’, which is both strong and graceful, evoking the movements of a swan as it steps out of the water. Constructed from silver fan blades, this artwork captures the poetry in technical precision, embodying the sustainability that is fundamental to Reullier’s original approach.
Offering a riposte to consumerist society, the artist invites viewers to find beauty in the scrap heap. Not only will The Art Of A Second Life give blueprint drawings and machine parts just that, a second life, it will also allow classic car enthusiasts the chance to own unique pieces of British motor history.
Repurposing materials, the artist fuses science, technology, engineering and art to craft innovative works, which transform unwanted trash into treasured objects. As Reullier says, there is “no limit” to his imagination, which whirs like a creative machine.
The exhibition runs from Tuesday 25 March to Saturday 5 April at The RBSA Gallery, 4 Brook Street, St. Paul’s, Birmingham, B3 1SA. The Gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10.30am – 5.00pm, Sundays 11.00am – 4.00pm (summer months only) www.rbsa.org.uk