An ongoing series in which international artists make original works 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

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 · Tarpaulin

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.