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:
![The Bluethumb Ute - before](https://bluethumb.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photo2-e1393286501672-768x1024.jpg)
On Monday Coby and one of Press Food and Wine’s staff did a photoshoot for The Advertiser on the still-white car.
Once the crowds began to roll in at 4pm, Coby started painting.
![More visitors to the Bluethumb Ute](https://bluethumb.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photo-13-1024x768.jpg)
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.
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.
![Coby puts the finishing touches on the Bluethumb ute](https://bluethumb.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photo4-e1393290604483.jpg)
As night fell, Coby switched on the fairy lights and put the finishing touches on the Bluethumb ute.
![The finished Bluethumb Ute](https://bluethumb.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photo2-copy.jpg)
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?