The art of Paul White

It appears that several Australian artists are inspired by muscle cars. Paul White specialises in doing intricate drawings of cars he finds in wreckers' yards. 

Paul now lives in Melbourne but grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney where he studied art at the University of Western Sydney. He then won a scholarship to study in California for two years.
“I was always interested in cars,” he says. “Dad always had Holdens and he’d take me out to Amaroo and Oran Park where I saw Brocky racing. My first car was a Holden Torana.”

He still has a Torana. He’s owned his Barbados Green 1974 SL/R 5000 for around 15 years. In America he drove a Pontiac Firebird.
His art is very detailed, to the point that some think they are looking at a photograph. In fact, he works in coloured pencil on paper. The bigger drawings, some up to three metres wide, take up to 200 hours to complete. He reckons he goes through a few thousand pencils every year.
His work is based on actual cars photographed in yards here and in America. He discovered one yard in Phoenix, Arizona which has around 5000 cars, all from the pre-1980s.

The drawing of the 1970s sin bin was based on a Sandman found on a property his Dad bought in outback New South Wales. It’s still there but unfortunately is too far gone to restore. He’s managed to find a magazine in which this car was featured when it was brand new.
Paul’s work has been displayed at the Melbourne International Art Fair. He also exhibits at the Scott Livesey Galleries in Melbourne, or you can visit an online gallery of his amazing work at Paul’s website, www.paulwhiteart.com