Automotive Art Exhibition 2018 at a glance

The first ever Automotive Art Exhibition was organized in Curacao by SDDK Motorsports foundation and held over the course of three days, 18-20 January last, at the 16 EAST office building at Ararat. On exhibit were artwork covering Formula One, World Rally - and World Endurance Championships, MotoGP, drag racing, vintage cars, racing helmets, and some locally fabricated car parts. Of course, several pieces of F1 curiosa found their way into the exhibit.

What stood out were two collages made of vintage drag racing pictures supplied by Omar Santiroma of the “Koraal Tabak” period and a selection of high quality photographs by Dutch freelance photographer Frank Hoyinck covering the World EnduranceChampionship, who graciously supported our cause all the way from the Netherlands.

Motorsport on Curaçao started back in the early seventies when the late Hugo Bakhuis constructed the first drag strip at “Koraal Tabak”. This was followed by Hill Climbs at “Mijn Maatschappij”, go kart races at “Shut”, the infamous 1985 Formula 3 GP race, and more drag racing at the Curacao International Raceway. Curaçao has a great deal of racing history, along with local talent, and one of the SDDK Motorsport foundation’s goal is to help promote this history and talent, in part by organizing yearly Automotive Art Exhibitions. These exhibitions are also meant to give local automotive artists a platform to stand on. 

This year we featured Mitchell Daniel and one of the custom exhaust headers he welded for Michael de Sousa's 1967 Ford Mustang Boss. Though an older piece from 2014, the Harley-Davidson Braggin' Rights Challenge Cup, which is also organized by SDDK Motorsports, can be seen below right.

This year we had more than 100 visitors attend the exhibition and we were very encouraged by their positive comments. For next year we plan to more than double the number of visitors by changing the venue, as well as expanding the collection of artwork showcased, specially the local kind. 

The next Automotive Art Exhibition is already in the planning and will take place in January 2019.

Below you will find an impression of the exhibition.

Photo credit: own files.