Feast your eyes on Audi’s #PortraiTT competition nominees

Now, most of us like celebrating our birthdays, right? Whether we just head out to a favourite restaurant with a select group of closer-than-close friends for a bowl of pasta and a catch-up, or commandeer an entire phalanx of pals for a weeklong series of meticulously planned events, it’s good to reflect on where you’ve been and where you are going.

It’s been twenty years since German motor giants Audi unleashed the TT and, understandably, they want to celebrate. Realising that a lot of famous icons get official portraits painted to celebrate their big life milestones, Audi decided to collaborate with some of the most talented visual artists around to present a series of one-off pieces as part of the Twitter-backed #PortraiTT campaign.

We’ve been given an exclusive look at the entrants, and have decided to run you through the selected quintet. We recommend you cast an eye on them and then head over to the Audi UK Twitter account where you can vote on your favourite. The winner will become the official #PortraiTT.

Traum INC

In a world that feels increasingly hectic, we could all do with stepping back and slowing down. At least that’s how we feel after seeing the visual that Thomas Traum’s Traum INC team have put together for the #PortraiTT competition. Here, an immaculate Audi TT hovers tantalisingly above a sun-dappled ocean view that seems to stretch on forever, threatening to melt totally, but never quite getting there. The result is an arresting and oddly calming image.

Joseph Melhuish

Way back now in July 2017, we chatted to London-based illustrator and designer Joseph about his bold character work and bright backgrounds. Handily for us here at It’s Nice That, he’s applied that signature style to his #PortraiTT entry, creating a short animated clip that’s as cheeky as it is colourful. We sort of want to live in the world he’s created, in all it’s long-haired and grid-heavy glory.

Ada Sokol

The car’s the star in Polish-born, Paris-based 3D animator Ada’s #PortraiTT, but when you’re working with a vehicle as iconic as the Audi TT that makes sense. Incorporating her usual eye-catching levels of smooth sleekness, we’re presented with an iridescent TT surrounded by fluttering butterflies and floating blossom, in a scene that only a digital artist as gifted as Ada Sokol could render into being.

Archie Proudfoot

You don’t often meet sign painters out there in the real world, do you? Which is just one reason why we should treasure Archie Proudfoot and the elaborate, ornate signage he puts together with his own fair hand. His #PortraiTT video takes us on a tour of the artist’s workshop as he puts together his spotty, dotty, and brilliant entry together.

Voyder

Voyder likes to keep his identity under wraps, so it’s just as well that since 2001 he’s let his graffiti do the talking. For his #PortraiTT, the Bristolian mark-maker has worked with the unmistakable outline of the TT to create a kinetic, gestural piece of public art.