EXCLUSIVE: How Lewis Hamilton helped F1-obsessed artist realise dream

“I nearly fell off my chair.”

That was how automotive artist Joel Clark responded to finding out he had been asked by F1 legend Lewis Hamilton to create a very special artwork.

Earlier this week it emerged Hamilton had arranged a parting gift for 3,000 of his former colleagues at Mercedes. Hamilton commissioned six artists to create a special piece for his co-workers at the team as a parting gift following his departure from the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton, who won six of his seven world championships with Mercedes, completed a blockbuster switch to F1 rivals Ferrari over the winter, but not before he thanked his former colleagues with unique leaving presents.

The project was kept top secret by Mercedes to ensure their staff did not find out before they received the specially commissioned artworks at the end of January.

Clark, one of the artists who was chosen for the job, couldn’t believe his eyes when an unexpected email landed in his inbox last October.

“I had a completely random email from an agency that was handling the project, asking if I would be interested in working on a commission for a high-profile athlete and that’s all the information that was allowed to be given and I agreed,” Clark told Crash.net.

“I had no idea even what sport it was or anything and then further down the line it was revealed to be Lewis, and I nearly fell off my chair. Each artist was given a brief on a theme picked by Lewis which basically celebrates his most emotional and monumental moments with the team.

“It was not just about Lewis, it was about Lewis and Mercedes - that was of paramount importance. Hence my one, ‘An Ode to Senna’, was celebrating that great team victory.”

For Clark, who has been a motorsport nut all of his life and a big Ayrton Senna fan, the chance to create a piece of art depicting Hamilton’s iconic comeback victory at the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, in Senna’s homeland, was the stuff of dreams.

50-year-old Clark grew up in Brackley, where Mercedes’ F1 headquarters are based, and a stone’s throw from Silverstone, where he got his first job as a vinyl sticker maker after leaving school aged 16.

“I’d only just got off the floor to the chair only to fall straight back on the floor again,” he continued. “I’m a huge [Ayrton] Senna fan so the combination of the two, and the whole emotions of being involved in what is one of the biggest stories in motorsport history.

“I grew up in Brackley and my first job was at Silverstone where I learnt to work in vinyl for a sign company. We used to do lots of Touring Car teams back in 1990. So the whole full story for me. It was a hell of a project for me.”

Clark, who claims to be the only automotive artist who works with hand-cut vinyl, had around a month to complete his brief, which proved to be a challenge due to it being far removed from his usual comfort zone of depicting retro racing cars. He submitted four pieces in total, with his personal favourite also turning out to be Hamilton’s choice.

“Most of my automotive artwork is a lot more retro. I haven’t really gone past the 90s in terms of subject matter. So taking on a contemporary F1 car and just the sheer detail on the things is crazy,” he explained.

“On a creative level, that was the challenge. That was my favourite, that was also Lewis’s and the agency’s favourite choice, so we were all on the same table there. I guess just to capture what was such an amazing moment in Lewis’s time with Mercedes.”

A full circle moment

Having spent six years studying at Central Saint Martins art college in the early-to-mid nineties, Clark worked in advertising for 20 years. However, his itch for his true passion never left and he continued to dabble in his motorsport artwork.

The turning point came in 2013 at Kop Hill Climb, a local classic car meet, where Clark sold out most of his work. That prompted him to pursue what has now been a 10-year journey.

Clark’s unique favoured medium was inspired by the skills he picked up in his first job, which he now combines with his love for motorsport.

“Being 1990 all the logos that had to be made for cars all had to be hand-cut, because there were no computers to scan any logos in and all that sort of stuff,” Clark said of his first job.

“I would turn up Monday morning after a race weekend, whoever had crashed would say ‘we need another four Dunlop stickers’, or ‘we need another 20 Michelin stickers’, so I’d have to cut those out by hand.”

Explaining his love for vinyl as a medium, Clark added: “When it comes to the automotive art, it’s obviously got the same finish as the real car you are depicting, so it has a unique quality in that sense.

“You’ve got natural reflections from whichever environment the artwork hangs in, which then blends with the highlights which I’ve put into the artwork. That extends to when I do bits of Formula 1, where I extenuate all the highlights and lowlights across it. Because you are just working with bold, solid colours, I just love the impact it has and the idea of breaking down everything into a coloured shape.

“Essentially I’m making a jigsaw but I’m also making the pieces of the jigsaw for each piece. Then it literally goes to a car body shop and has a clear coat, so it has the same finish again as the real car I’m depicting.”

On a personal level, Hamilton’s commission and the exposure which follows could be a “make-or-break” turning point for Clark, who acknowledges he is a “relatively unknown artist”.

“At the moment, in a cost of living crisis, not many people are buying work from relatively unknown artists. For me it’s kind of make-or-break,” he admitted.

“Without getting into a sob story, at the moment I’m month-to-month not knowing if I’m going to be paying rent each month. And so this exposure for me - it’s not an exaggeration - is make-or-break really. It’s beyond important.”

For Clark, it is “without a doubt” the highlight of his career.

“In terms of the significance of the project and just as a moment, not just in motorsport history but cultural history, I’d never have dreamt it,” he said.

"As an artist who does a lot of motorsport art, to be commissioned by a racing driver would be amazing, by an F1 driver even better, but then the greatest of all time, it is off the scale. Beyond a dream come true.”

You can see more of Clark’s work on his official website.