Introducing the Bluethumb Ute – live car art at the Fringe Festival Waymouth Street Party
On Friday night at the Waymouth Street Party for Adelaide Fringe, urban contemporary Indigenous artist Coby Edgar turned the Bluethumb ute into something Frida Kahlo would be proud to drive. Live in front of hundreds of spectators, Coby covered the ute in riotous Mexican-style designs in under five hours. Here’s how it happened:
On Monday Coby and one of Press Food and Wine’s staff did a photoshoot for The Advertiser on the still-white car.
On Friday, we parked the Bluethumb ute on Waymouth Street…
… and set up the Hills Hoist for our pop-up exhibition.
Once the crowds began to roll in at 4pm, Coby started painting.
Coby chose blue as the main colour – appropriate for Bluethumb!
The Bluethumb ute attracted lots of visitors. These ladies on stilts were the first.
Yes, there were some interesting visitors indeed. A spaceman interviewed Coby for a good ten minutes. Maybe he was asking how to buy art online.
And then another spaceman showed up.
Meanwhile, the Virgin Mary appeared on the Bluethumb ute.
Skulls and clouds on the right hand side of the ute.
Coby deep in concentration.
That’s paint in her hair!
As night fell, the final product blossomed. Coby added sparkly gold paint, fairy lights, rubber duckies, and a Virgin Mary icon in the back window of the ute for that extra something. Her friend and fellow artist, Alec Hall, helped with the finishing touches.
As night fell, Coby switched on the fairy lights and put the finishing touches on the Bluethumb ute.
The finished product. Artist Alec Hall (left) supplied the rubber duckies on the dashboard, an essential ingredient.
The Bluethumb ute is now finished, and will be seen about town in Adelaide whenever we hold Bluethumb Hills Hoist pop-up exhibitions. It’s a work of art, really. I don’t know how we’re going to top this at next year’s Fringe. Does anyone have a plane we could paint? No? How about a boat?
