Flagship programme · With Mustard Tree, Manchester

Vehicles for Change

An ongoing series in which international contemporary artists make original work on surfaces salvaged from decommissioned vehicles. The works are auctioned; the proceeds fund creative workshops for people rebuilding their lives.

The idea

Don't build a new thing to paint on

We start with a simple question: can we paint on something that already exists? Almost always, the answer is yes. Bus panels, lorry curtains and aircraft skin have travelled roads, carried weight and weathered the world — the scuffs, bolt-holes and faded logos are part of the work. Each artist in the series receives a prepared surface, full creative freedom, and an interview telling the story of the piece. Each work then enters our auction.

The partnership

Mustard Tree, Manchester

Proceeds from the current series fund painting workshops at Mustard Tree, a charity combatting poverty and homelessness. Over the past ten months, fifteen members have developed their skills, confidence and creative voices — culminating in their own exhibition, with all sales going back to the artists.
See the Mustard Tree exhibition →

THE MATERIALS

Every canvas had a first life

Sheet aluminium · Curved steel

London bus panels

When buses leave service their panels are weighed in for scrap. We lift them off and turn them into individual framed works — a third life, on a wall, instead of the furnace.

PVC · Scrim · Printed branding

Lorry curtain tarpaulin

Nearly impossible to recycle, lorry curtains usually end as landfill. As canvas they are heavier, take paint differently, and wear the marks of the previous job.

Whole vehicles · Bus · Aircraft

Retired vehicles, entire

A double-decker painted top to tail; a retired aircraft as a single canvas — fuselage, wings and tail. The simplest sustainability there is: paint the thing that already exists.

Processed waste plastic

Recycled plastic canvas

Plastic on its way to landfill, processed and prepared as a paintable surface. The substrate becomes part of the message.

THE LOOP, CLOSED

Every sale becomes a workshop place

15
works created in the series to date
15
Mustard Tree members through the current workshop programme
£100K
raised through Vehicles For Change auctions

THE ARTISTS

This year's series

Andrew Hem

BUS PANEL · IN AUCTION

Creative partnerships

Yann Letto

TARPAULIN · IN AUCTION

Community connection

Suanjaya Kencut

RETURNING ARTIST · IN AUCTION

Exhibitions

Qhamanande Maswana

TWO NEW WORKS · IN AUCTION

For collectors

Bid, or make an offer.

Works from the series enter our auctions as they are completed. Every piece in the archive also welcomes offers — our team reviews each one personally.
VIEW AVAILABLE WORKS

For artists

Paint on something with a past.

We invite artists into the series year round. We supply the prepared surface, logistics and documentation — you bring the work. Proceeds fund the programme.
GET IN TOUCH