Immovable

"VIP meets Irezumi meets Custom Painting"

The VIP style is very much alive in Arizona and it's making an impression everywhere it goes. This latest customization efforts for Ceasar (@ceasarluna) of Kyoei USA was accomplished by painting the whole Lexus engine cover which is comprised of five separate pieces. This Lexus LS460 made a debut at SEMA 2013 adorned with some very subtle white on white Pinstriping executed by me and in this year he was starting to think of how to bring an updated and exciting version to SEMA 2014. Time passed and Ceasar came by the shop a couple times with different ideas but he eventually settled into wanting something more. I was on the same page and immediately something bold came to mind. An image of a Japanese samurai popped into my head and I jumped at the chance to presenting him with this vision. He was immediately on board. The five pieces where dropped off and prepped for paint. De-texturization of some of the panels was needed, priming and painting them white by was executed by my friends and neighbors at Deluxe Customs. The engine pieces were now a very unique blank canvas. Time passed and the deadline loomed. I finally got things in order to push everything aside and focus my attention on hand-painting the image we had decided on, an ukiyo-e image of Fudo-Myo-o (not the samurai but I'm hoping to paint another engine setup and use that image). I mocked up how the panels would sit in the car and created a patern to follow a basic layout I had drawn. 30 hours later the artwork was complete. It was time to look over the details and hand it back to Deluxe for the final clear-coating. A satin finish. Fudo Myo-o is a Buddhist diety of early Esoteric Buddhism. Fit for VIPs specific Japanese heritage. Blending Japanese history, religion, Irezumi traditions and custom cars!!! Whoa, who would have thought of this!