Artist Research: Nicolas Hunziker
Nicolas Hunziker is an automotive fine artist known for his bold, graphic paintings of iconic racing cars and motorsport history. His work often features strong outlines, limited colour palettes, and expressive typography, which gives his posters and paintings a very dynamic and energetic feel that links well to the theme of movement. Hunziker comes from a creative family background in illustration and has a strong connection to motorsport, which explains why racing cars and historic vehicles are a central focus in his artwork.
What I find most interesting about Hunziker’s work is how he simplifies complex car forms into stylised shapes while still keeping them recognisable. Instead of focusing on photorealism, he uses loose brushwork, flat colours, and layered textures to create a sense of speed and motion. Many of his commissioned works, including collections inspired by famous racing cars, show how he combines design and fine art together, almost like a poster and a painting at the same time.
This links directly to my project because I am focusing on cars, movement, and poster-style visuals. His use of composition and bold layouts gives me ideas for my own car poster designs and animation frames, especially how movement can be shown through angled positioning, motion blur, and simplified shapes. I also like how he keeps the background minimal so the car becomes the main focal point, which is something I want to apply in my own graphics and animation work based on the MK7 VW Golf. Studying Hunziker helps me understand how to make car artwork look more expressive rather than just realistic, which supports the development of my visual style for this project.
