The Art of Speed. Pontus Tidemand and OCTAVIA RS 245

Pontus Tidemand is one of the fastest people in the world. As a fresh world champion in rally racing, he knows everything about speed. He knows how it can be tameless but equally useful and creative in the right hands. That’s exactly what the new ŠKODA OCTAVIA RS 245 is, the highest-performing OCTAVIA of all time – extremely fast, but still practical and constantly under control.

Another man familiar with the benefits of speed is Matěj Olmer, a legend of Czech graffiti, the art of spray paint. ŠKODA Storyboard prepared a particular challenge for this trio: Are you able to transform speed to art?

“I love to drive, and I love to drive fast. I enjoy the strong emotional experience, but at the same time you have to be in control. This is where I see a clear similarity with painting. It’s an art to control the passion and energy,” progressive painter Matěj Olmer explains how he decided to accept the challenge. What’s more, the red OCTAVIA RS 245 caught his eye. “I like all the colors, but at the same time I hate them all because I’m already overwhelmed. But I’m always subconsciously drawn to red. Strong, distinctive red, just like on this car. I think that’s going to be the theme of the day,” he adds.

The Swedish driver Pontus Tidemand takes a similar approach: “I’m also motivated by passion, speed, and above all a challenge. I like competing with others and overcoming obstacles.” And even though his racing FABIA R5 is the fastest car around, he was very pleased to have the first opportunity to test the RS 245 model on the ŠKODA closed polygonal test track. “The OCTAVIA RS 245 is a very good car. It rides great and has an excellent engine. It’s strong, but at the same time it’s very easy to drive. I really like this car,” he praises.

AN OPEN AIR STUDIO

To paint with the RS 245, Matěj Olmer finally chose three colors with carefully mixed shades and density. Traditional green and yellow, then a distinctive red for a strong finish. Pontus Tidemand was behind the wheel of the OCTAVIA, taking care of their effective application with completely free hands. He gradually took more adventurous passes with the paint, when some skids brought him mere centimeters from the screen.

Between individual rides, Olmer then gave each canvas a gradual shape with using brushes, other colors, his own hands, and especially his most powerful weapon – the spray can. He also broke the cans with a wheel wrench to create spectacular color explosions. There are a number of people who still associate graffiti with painted train wagons, but the fact is that it has long since become a distinct branch of art and has given rise to a number of renowned artists.

They use it for completely legal activities and commercial contracts, and there are even several paint brands that specialize purely in graffiti artists. It was actually graffiti, embellished with other techniques of expression, that became the popular street art, while the classic graffiti that originated in New York in the 1970s is nowadays a mere anachronism.

“I’ve been doing some sort of art since I was 15, and I actually started with street graffiti, which I’m still partly active in. It’s good in that it forces you to learn and develop very quickly because you have to do your work the best you can under stress and within a limited time. Most of my friends who started with me back then have successfully graduated from college, and today many of them are professional designers and artists.

I also have a studio at home – I draw on a big canvas and I’ve had a lot of exhibitions. But I always like coming back to graffiti,” says Olmer. And how did the new champion enjoy the outing with the paints? “It’s something completely new for me, it was a real experience. I have to say, it’s pretty cool. Maybe we can do it again sometime,” says Tidemand with his typical Nordic austerity.