All great art beings with the careful selection of tools - Rodin opted for clay; Degas had pastels; Hendrix used a Fender Stratocaster.

Ian Cook prefers tire tread.

Working under the pseudonym of "PopBangColour," the 30-year old British artist paints automotive murals using R/C cars, diecasts, and old tires instead of brushes. Cook's clients include Ford Racing, Jaguar, Ferrari, VW WRC and Dunlop. You might've even seen his Audi R8 and Aston Martin DBR1 compositions in the 14th season of Top Gear when Clarkson and crew annex an art gallery.

Save Andy Warhol transforming the BMW M1 into a 190-mph gallery piece for Le Mans '79, Cook's work may just be the coolest intersection of fine art and fast cars we've seen.

So how'd it all happen?

"Courtesy of Ian Cook (PopbangColour)"

Growing up in the '90s renaissance of motorsport, Cook was always preoccupied with racing cars. He was raised in the UK's West Midlands - once the industrious, Michigan-esque home of British Leyland - and says there was "always something comforting" about the nearby auto plants. Cook's creative streak landed him a spot at Winchester School of Fine Art, where he earned a Fine Art degree in 2004. He was teaching painting lessons the following winter when a Christmas gift sparked the idea that transformed his career.

"My ex-girlfriend bought me a radio-control car. She kept saying, 'Ian, you're going to love this! It'll be the best present you ever had!' I opened it up and there was Lightning McQueen from the film Cars. I thought, 'Oh...okay.' She'd pumped it up so much, it really wasn't what I expected," he admits. "So she left the room and said, 'Just don't take it in the studio and get paint all over it.' It hit me - hey, that's a pretty good idea."

Working out of a small converted garage, Cook began experimenting with the R/C car as an application tool for abstracts and color wheels. He'd lather up the tires with paint and scoot them around, discovering the unique 'brushstrokes' of plastic Pirellis on Fabriano Paper (then scrubbing Lightning McQueen's undercarriage so his girlfriend was none the wiser). Before long, he was creating intricate logos, then portrait illustrations and, eventually, automobiles. In doing this, Cook invented his own original artistic style - a method he calls 'popbang.'

"It's a friendly explosion of color. I dislike the barriers of people feeling like they can't understand art. If I've painted an Aston Martin, it's just an Aston Martin to enjoy," he explains. "I once did a sculpture made from pieces of all my old diecast cars, arranged by color. Iraq had recently been invaded when I put the sculpture on display, and everybody was analyzing it saying, 'Is it about car bomb? The horrors of suicide bombers?' I said, 'Uh, no, it's cutting up your toy cars and sorting them by color.'"

His first major commission popped up when Reebok asked for a three-story portrait of Lewis Hamilton. Cook wasn't sure what to make of it.

"I genuinely thought I was being pranked on a hidden camera show or something. Why would you want a 12-meter portrait of Lewis Hamilton? That's ridiculous!" he laughs. "A week before, the studio they'd rented had no electricity, the floor was pitted - they were showing me around with flashlights. But I was saying yes to things, and they delivered. It all worked out."

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With the 39-foot Hamilton draped alongside Tower Bridge during the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix (and another high-profile commission on Regent Street, in London's famed West End) Ian Cook catapulted PopbangColour into the mainstream.

They loved it.

A breath of fresh air for the turtleneck-clad gallery stompers, sure, but Cook tapped into something visceral with enthusiasts. He works shoeless and kneeled atop his canvas, R/C car tires spinning while paint spatters his glasses, inches from whatever Ferrari or Porsche he's creating. He once painted Mike Hawthorn for spectators at Britain's illustrious Goodwood Festival of Speed. Not aristocratic enough for you? Last year, Cook did a one-off, Gulf-liveried vinyl wrap for the Earl of Pembroke's Bugatti Veyron.

"Courtesy of Ian Cook (PopbangColour)"

His new studio is filled with over 120 toy cars ("paintbrushes") and located at Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, but Cook still has an affinity for working trackside. He's particularly fond of Silverstone, where he paints into the night during the Britcar 24-Hour. But things can get a bit hairy outside the friendly confines of Stowe and Hangar.

"I went out to Abu Dhabi for the GP in 2009. I was set up to paint on this beautiful hotel rooftop when it started raining. I don't mean sprinkling, I mean heaving down rain. When does it rain in Abu Dhabi? I mean, come on!"

Everything was soaked...race weekend ruined?

"Nope. I had my girlfriend go ask Jenson Button's reps if I could maybe use his terrace to paint on. Sure enough, there I was three hours before the race chatting with Jenson and painting."

Okay, okay, but did he let Button drive the R/C car?

"Courtesy of Ian Cook (PopbangColour)"

"Oh yeah, of course! He had a go with it."

There's something fundamentally righteous about Cook using 1:14 and 1:24 scale models to create sprawling, dynamic automotive murals. What other artist is sponsored by Sparco or lets Jenson Button do paint burnouts across his canvas? It's like someone took Jackson Pollock, replaced alcoholism with a go-fast fetish, and then let him loose in a hobby shop.

We dig it.

Like PopbangColour and have some empty wall space? Good news is that 9x11-inch prints are available on Ian's website for only £25 ($40).

Love PopbangColour and have a healthy chunk of spare coin? Ian also does one-off commissions for serious customers.

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