Celebrity Crush- inspired by the Lamborghini Adventador S

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Within a few days of securing a quantity of highly desirable pink onyx, I found myself falling victim to a click-bait trap dedicated to cool cars of celebrity owners. I must have had the time to waste, as I looked through them alI…. And then clicked on the next click- bait trap to view the previous year’s review on the same topic.

First, the generation gap. I used to shake my head about this with my parents, but it is now me that is no longer hip. I had no idea who almost half of these featured celebrities were. Presumably, most were musicians or social media influencers. Then, I was surprised by how many of the celebrity’s cars were pink. Also, surprising to me how many were Lamborghinis….. especially pink Lamborghinis.

I chose to interpreted this entire sequence of serendipitous events as a sign from the cosmos that I was pre-ordained to create a pink Lamborghini sculpture. That, and a mental note to self to pay more attention to popular culture.

 

It did seem like Lamborghinis were mildly underrepresented in my sculpture topics to- date. That also seemed like it should be addressed. Especially as I’ve logged quite a few days in Gallardos, including in a white Spyder retracing the Mille Miglia route. I’ve toured the factory and museum in Sant’Agata, and had an enjoyable outdoor dinner in Arizona with both then-CEO Stephan Winkelmann and Chief Engineer Maurizio Reggiani. Agreed, guilty as charged. A modern Lamborghini it must be, and it must be pink.

 

So which Lamborghini to sculpt? I’d already created my vision of the groundbreaking Muira of the mid-1960s (The Hen), so it seemed like I should be now sculpting a more modern car. I could have targeted one of the V12 show cars Lambo has been turning out in recent years. Then, I thought perhaps the cosmos would want me to stick to the “celebrity owner” idea, and none of those one-offs were pink. The celebrities tended to own the V12 Aventadors. So, the “S” version of that range-topper became my inspiration.

 

For many years of its history since its debut in 1963, Lamborghini only offered a two-seat, mid-engine V12 supercar. The Aventador, released in 2011, is the contemporaneous version of that design brief, replacing the former Murcielago.

 

 

Lamborghini’s then-chief of design Filippo Perini is credited with the Aventador. The V10 models, the Gallardo and its replacement the Huracan, are also credited to Perini. 2017’s Aventador “S” design update is credited to Lamborghini Design under Perini’s replacement Mitja Borkert, (Filippo Perini went on to be Design Chief at Genesis).

 

Modern Lamborghinis are well suited to sculpture. With sharp creases and many flat planes, they are light reflecting machines!

 

THE STONE

Next, I needed to resolving the presence and number of inlays, and, whether to depict wheels and tires, or adopt a “flying pod” approach. These are major branching points in the plan that affect the execution of the sculpture from the get-go.

Those planning issues were largely dictated by the translucent property of onyx. Underlighting onyx highlights its complex internal architecture. Magnifico. I knew I wanted to take advantage of that property by underlighting. Thus, it made sense not to employ inlays on the car itself.

To push the technical challenge forward even further, the decision was made to also fashion the wheels out of pink onyx, and to then trans-illuminate those. The tires would be fashioned out of the usual Belgian Black marble, which is opaque to back-lighting.

A large number of steps are taken throughout the sculpting process to facilitate the underlighting. Strangely, you don’t really get a chance to see how it all works out until all the components and hours of labor come together at the very end. I’m happy to say the underlighting result exceeded my expectation, even in daylight viewing. Bella!

The “Crush” part of the title has a double meaning for me. We’ve all had crushes on celebrities, though mine shall remain secret. When I was a kid, the Crush brand made my favorite soda pop, Cream Soda. Sometimes it was clear-colored, but more frequently red-pink. It was hard to find back in the day, and it has been decades since I’ve seen it. Available only in Canada, according to the internet.