The man behind the painting: Tom Sangen

'A lifelong passion'

Tom Sangen (b. 1974) has been obsessed with cars all his life. A few years ago, he decided to combine his creativity and passion and has been creating 'automotive art' ever since. His training as an architect clearly influences the design of his work and the way it is created. Working with acrylic paint on canvas, he paints in an abstract, graphic style with planes and lines. The subjects of his paintings are mainly thoroughbred sports cars from the last century, but in principle he paints everything: from classic to modern, from sports car to sedan, dynamic driving or stationary.

The interest in cars has been there since childhood. Some family members, with a love for Alfa Romeo and Porsche, ignited the spark at a young age and from then on there was no stopping them. The fascination for cars and motorsport grew over the years, with the aforementioned brands playing a leading role to this day. The combination of speed, technology, sound and colour worked inspiring and addictive. Model cars, construction kits and posters soon filled his boyhood room.

Later, the focus shifted to reading and collecting books and magazines, with a particular emphasis on sports and racing cars from the 1950s/60s/70s. An extensive archive of thousands of magazine articles, arranged by make and type is the result. This archive, filled with famous cars, drivers and circuits, is a great source of inspiration. Browsing through all these great stories, the subjects for a new painting almost automatically jump onto the canvas.

Most of his work consists of racing cars 'at full speed'. The dynamism of these paintings is created by numerous parallel stripes that bring the suggestion of speed to life. The stripes are drawn on the canvas using a long ruler and then filled in by hand. They form a transition between the moving racing car in the foreground and the stationary trees and sky in the background.

In addition, Sangen has recently launched a series of 'vintage racing posters' featuring famous Porsches. The most iconic racing cars in the brand's history are depicted frontally, partly cut off by the edge of the canvas, with vertical lines of text giving information about the type depicted and the race in which they participated.

In addition to the original paintings, reproductions will soon be released in collaboration with Vintage-Speedworks; as art prints and canvas, both in limited and numbered editions.