A HARE of Hampshire now has a matching Mini after a Winchester car dealer transferred the artist’s work on to one of its vehicles.
Artist Julien Masson designed Poly the hare, in Cathedral Close, as part of the Hares of Hampshire trail, a collection of 31 hares that have been installed across Winchester and Southampton to raise money The Murray Parish Trust. The trust is fundraising for children’s emergency services and the hares will be sold when the trail ends later this summer.
Julien was delighted to see sponsor Partridge of Hampshire transfer his colourful polygon design to one of their cars.
Kellie Neighbour, from Partidge of Hampshire, a BMW and MINI retailer in Chandlers Ford, said: “We loved the bold colours and intricate design of the triangles by Julien. Technology is a key part of our cars and so it felt there was synergy between Partridge of Hampshire and Julien. We loved the design on paper, but it really pops in real life.
“We felt doing the car would be a fun way to expose Julien’s design more and raise awareness for the trail so we can raise as much money as we can. We will be launching a competition with the Mini with details to follow soon.”
Julien, originally from Paris, has previously worked on similar projects such as the rhinos and zebra projects which were organised by Marwell Zoo. The Southampton-based artist is therefore no stranger to painting large fibre glass animals.
READ MORE: Hares of Hampshire: 10 sculptures installed in Winchester
He said: “My background is in fine art but also 3D computer animation so I do a fair amount of 3D modelling so polygons are my world. I thought it would be fun to adapt the polygon design back on to the hare.
“Partridge of Hampshire responded to Poly, they liked the design and suggested applying it to one of their cars. At first, I wasn’t sure how we’d do that but I decided to rise to the challenge and come up with an adaptive design that would look a bit painterly and they seemed to like it!
“I’m really pleased with the design and how it looks. I was really tempted to buy the car but I don’t have the funds unfortunately but it looks really cool!”
The Murray Parish Trust was responsible for organising the sponsorship for each hare.
Julien said: “I’ve been around the whole trail and they’re all amazing and it’s quite humbling because you get engrossed in working on your own design but seeing everyone else’s designs and how incredible they are is a real buzz- just to be associated with all these amazing talented artists.”
For more, go to haresofhampshire.co.uk/
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