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Alexander Ney creates unique sculpture of DiMora's $2 million luxury automobile
Renowned Russian-American artist captures the spirit of the Natalia SLS 2 in his signature style
Palm Springs, California - July 20, 2009 -- DiMora Motorcar is creating the world's most expensive, advanced production automobile, the Natalia SLS 2 sport luxury sedan. Now one of the world's greatest sculptors has chosen to immortalize this design in a unique way.
Russian-American artist Alexander Ney has created a fine art interpretation of DiMora Motorcar's forthcoming luxury supercar. Made of a white porcelain/terra cotta mix, the sculpture is aptly titled "The Natalia", and is his first endeavor in creating an artwork inspired by the design of a contemporary vehicle. The artist spent almost a year creating the piece, whose texture is covered by one of Mr. Ney's trademark signature styles, a painstakingly hand-perforated surface of circles, squares, stripes, and other geometric figures reminiscent of an ancient language, yet that equally could belong to a futuristic civilization.
Alexander Ney and The Natalia Photo by Benjamin Gitel
DiMora Motorcar Founder Alfred DiMora was uncertain whether Mr. Ney would accept his commission to create a timeless sculpture to memorialize a technological marvel. "Fortunately, the more he learned about the Natalia, and how we are rewriting the rulebook on how automobiles can be designed and constructed, the more intrigued he became. Alexander Ney has been rewriting the artistic rulebook all his life, so he appreciates that same spirit in a different realm."
"Sculpting 'The Natalia', the first car from which I have created an interpretation, has inspired me," Alexander Ney remarked. "While it was a complex silhouette to follow and translate into my own artistic language, I now understand that unique cars like the Natalia can be beautiful objects to work from. Perhaps I will return to this subject in a future project dedicated to the classic and contemporary automobile."
Mr. DiMora is delighted with the sculpture that Mr. Ney has produced. "After refining every aspect of the Natalia design for over three years, we are now building the first prototype. It is a tremendous validation of our work that Mr. Ney has made such a memorable piece of art to symbolize what we are doing. We plan to show the sculpture in various museums before putting it on permanent display at the DiMora Motorcar factory museum."
Alexander Ney's workshop
Mr. Ney's works can be found in the collections of the Rockefeller Family, Conan O'Brien, Walter Ford II, Gene Wilder, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Cusack, the Nasher Museum of Art, the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, the Yeshiva University Museum, the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College, the Museum Beelden Aan Zee in the Netherlands, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the State Russian Museum, the State Pushkin Museum of Art, and many other collections in the United States and around the world. His works are featured in countless traveling exhibitions and one-man shows, and are consistently sold at major auction houses such as Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonham's.
About Alexander Ney Born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1939, the young Alexander Ney endured the horrific 872-day Siege of Leningrad during World War II. He attended the Academy of Fine Art, Moscow's Surikov Institute, and the I. E. Repin Institute of Art, before teaching sculpture at the Children's House of Culture. In the late 1960's, he worked in masterpiece restoration at the Hermitage Museum and later was set decorator for Grigorii Kozintsev's movie "King Lear". Mr. Ney left the Soviet Union in 1972, spending two years in Paris before immigrating to the United States. He has resided in New York the past 35 years.
In honor of the artist's 70th birthday later this year, Moscow's National Center for Contemporary Art will host a special retrospective of his work selected from the museum and private collections August 12-30. A catalog of the museum show is being published, with official introductions from the American Embassy in Moscow and the Russian Federation's Ministry of Culture. In New York, SoHo's Mimi Ferzt Gallery will feature a one-man Alexander Ney show in September, accompanied by a special publication with critical essays contributed by preeminent art historians. Opening gala receptions will be held at both venues; for dates, email info@alexanderney.com or learn more at www.alexanderney.com.
About DiMora Motorcar Based in Palm Springs, California, DiMora Motorcar crafts automobiles designed to exceed expectations for safety, performance, technology, ecology, beauty, comfort, and luxury. We are the first to reveal the design, production, and testing of our automobiles via the Internet so that people around the world can learn about--and participate in--the process.
The founder, CEO, and driving force behind DiMora Motorcar, Alfred J. DiMora, produced two of America's finest luxury automobiles, the Clenet (as owner) and the Sceptre (as co-founder). When President Reagan declared 1986 the Centennial Year of the Gasoline-Powered Automobile, Mr. DiMora's Clenet was selected as the Official Centennial Car. As a result, he and the Clenet were honored at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Michigan. He also founded Starbridge Systems, Inc., where he developed the FPGA supercomputer. Using his technological and automotive backgrounds, Alfred DiMora blends the two worlds together to create this new experience in automotive history, the Natalia SLS 2. For more information, please visit www.dimoramotorcar.com, which features a video of the artist's son, Joel Ney, explaining the Natalia sculpture and presenting it to Mr. DiMora.
