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Sebastian Errazuriz’s Art Car + NFT Reimagines the Genesis G70 as an Escape

The following post is brought to you by Genesis. Our partners are handpicked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.

07.05.21 | By
Sebastian Errazuriz’s Art Car + NFT Reimagines the Genesis G70 as an Escape

With a philosophical spirit, mathematical precision and geometric splendor, the work of artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz inspires wonder. From sculptural works to technological marvels, Errazuriz infuses a certain cleverness into his art that builds relationships between object and viewer. Though many of his tactile pieces do not actually move, there’s an innate gesture of motion in all of them. This international innovator—born in Chile, raised in London and based in NYC—knew he wanted to be an artist when he was four. Through his successful studio practice and presence at global art and design fairs, he’s amassed a following for his thoughtful whimsy.

Through a Design Milk commission, Errazuriz has digitally reimagined a Genesis G70—his first art car—as both a canvas for memories and as an escape pod; a home away from home.

Errazuriz was an appropriate fit for such a commission because movement unifies his diverse imaginings. “Movement keeps us happy,” he says. Inspired by the elegance of the Genesis G70’s design language, he sought to amplify the idea of personal space and private adventure.

“There’s an intimacy and a sense of protection that we identify with our personal spaces. We wanted to reflect that character of the car, with the idea of a car as a second home, as an escape pod. We coupled that with this idea that our images—our phones and the photos they hold—they’re all our memories.” Errazuriz transformed the G70 with these two ideas.

View the Art Car:

Regarding his creative origins, “I was born in the arts; it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” Errazuriz tells us, as we tour his Brooklyn loft. “But, at some point, I felt maybe I wasn’t worthy of being an artist, and I studied design. Design was there to solve problems, to try and create solutions for people. Then, I started mixing art and design, almost as if there were two languages.”

For the past 15 years, Errazuriz has populated large studio spaces throughout the city, using them as playgrounds for his imagination. “They allowed me to work simultaneously across a variety of mediums and projects and they felt like the right location for the creation of ideas.” Now, however, he says that since “moving into a digital space, I feel it’s no longer necessary to have such physical spaces. They might even hinder certain developments as I don’t see the future of art in galleries.”

Errazuriz’s physical art upends form as we know it. “I try to make sure that the materials are the most noble, simplest and atemporal as possible, so that you can’t quite differentiate if they were used by a designer in South Korea or in Santiago, Chile. The colors are the simplest possible so that they don’t distract from the idea.”

“Every piece is the embodiment of an idea,” he says. “Creating just stylized design is not satisfactory to me. If the piece goes beyond its aesthetics and is the embodiment of an idea, it produces a story.” Errazuriz says his process begins like the sketch of a dream, one that he transforms into a blueprint on which he and his team tinker with ratios and percentages. Then, they transform it into reality. “It’s important to learn as an artist how to go from the image you have in your head to the most perfect and pure translation that you can create, so that others can share that vision.”

I believe it’s more important to invent again—to do so by seeing if you can invite others to see their own spaces and their environments renewed. Then, this creative design can become a vehicle itself.

As for designing with a car as a canvas, Errazuriz says, “There’s a temptation to decorate, but I believe it’s more important to invent again—to do so by seeing if you can invite others to see their own spaces and their environments renewed. Then, this creative design can become a vehicle itself, for others to be reminded that everything around them can be reinvented.”

“People always say that art does not need to function,” he concludes. “For me, art has to function, whether we want it or not. It should fulfill a function because, as artists, we should be able to communicate ideas to help people to understand things from a different perspective. It should be creating a moment—it should be creating a connection. And that’s what I’ve tried to do here.”

Stay tuned for the next Art Car drops from Dan Lam and Michael Kozlowski. Learn more about the Genesis G70 and the artists here.

Genesis G70 pre-production model with optional features shown. Available summer 2021.

Jaime Derringer, Founder + Executive Editor of Design Milk, is a Jersey girl living in SoCal. She dreams about funky, artistic jewelry + having enough free time to enjoy some of her favorite things—running, reading, making music, and drawing.