TRIUMPH X BONZAI
To celebrate the stunning Triumph Chrome Collection, Triumph collaborated with influential street artist, Dave Bonzai, who specializes in hyper-realistic chrome effect art, to create a one-of-a-kind piece at the Triumph Factory Visitor Experience, Hinckley.
Bonzai perfectly captures the mesmerizing, reflective qualities of chrome in this unique abstract interpretation of the Triumph chroming process. This explosion of liquid metal was created entirely with spray paint over a 2-day period, using the same precision and craftsmanship Triumph use when chroming the latest special editions. Through a method of layering different colored paint, Bonzai brings the wall to life with hyper-realistic liquid chrome art using predominately black, white, and grey paint.
The London based artist first started painting liquid chrome art back in 2016, with the ambition to create photo realistic pieces. He has refined his craft over the years to achieve today’s high-end finish.
To select the design, Triumph and Bonzai went back and forth with a few ideas, referencing the scale of the wall, with Dave creating some initial designs. Once it collectively felt like the design had the right flow and energy it was finalized, ready to be scaled up on the wall.
“This piece really captures the beauty and quality of the chrome that’s on the bikes."
One of the aims with this piece, was to enable the artwork to interact with one of the Chrome Editions. To do this, negative space was left towards the bottom, allowing a gap for a bike to be situated in, so when photographed the bike looks like it’s coming alive and becomes part of the artwork.
“I'm always interested in seeing the progression of certain artists and how they push the boundaries and for me I feel like the liquid Chrome is my way of doing it.”
A key element in Bonzai’s chrome street art is referencing his surroundings in his work. For example, when he paints in London, if he knows it’s on a bus route, he’ll add highlights of red, imitating the reflection of a bus, which really brings the street art to life. Similarly with the unique piece created with Triumph, he included reflections of the building’s windows and the big blue sky, as it’s a very open space. These touches help to imitate the natural reflective properties of chrome.
Like with Triumph, finishing details are important to Bonzai because they are the refining touches which really bring everything together.
“I'm always interested in seeing the progression of certain artists and how they push the boundaries, and for me I feel like liquid chrome is my way of doing it.”
Watch the full Triumph X Bonzai film, and see this unique artwork unfold from start to finish.
Dave describes that his favorite part of the whole process is seeing the public’s reaction once a piece is complete. You too can view this one-of-a-kind street art in person at the Triumph Factory Visitor Experience.
