Taipei, April 16 (CNA) U.S. luxury car maker DiMora Motorcar on Wednesday unveiled one of a series of its convertibles featuring paintings by Taiwanese artist Lee Sun-don on the exterior.
The red and black DiMora Neoclassic Vicci 6.2, handcrafted and hand-painted, made its debut at Art Revolution Taipei 2014.
It is one of 25 planned Vicci 6.2 cars that will each feature a unique painting from the artist's "Great Treasure Gate" series, which combines traditional Chinese craftwork with Western-style paintings.
Over the past two decades, Lee has been collecting lion-shaped door knockers used by Chinese households in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). He said he began incorporating these antiques into his paintings three years ago to come up with the series.
Born in the southern city of Kaohsiung, the award-winning artist is known for his multiple roles as painter, professor, novelist, and music composer.
"The reason why I picked Lee Sun-don is because I think he's the best contemporary artist in the world and... the artwork on the car, it shows for itself," said Alfred J. DiMora, founder and chief executive officer of the California-based car maker, at the event.
DiMora told CNA that his company interviewed many artists and took a long time to decide whose works should be put on the car, and he is very excited about working with Lee.
"I think it's going to bring the art world and the car world together," he said.
The car unveiled Wednesday has already been sold at a whopping price of US$1 million, DiMora revealed.
Lee's original paintings come with the cars bearing their reproductions.
(By Christie Chen)
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