It’s been said that the V10 Lexus LFA is an automotive work of art. Now that handle can literally be applied to the brand’s RZ 450e and RX 450h+ SUVs after they were twisted and shaped into truly bizarre sculptures that surfaced this week.

Lexus commissioned the New York-based MSCHF art collective to turn the cars into exhibits for the “Motormorphosis” exhibition at the city’s Chelsea Industrial venue. The vehicles will be displayed alongside non-distorted versions to give attendees a better idea of just how much work went into the transformations.

Sleek silver concept car with sweeping curved roof panels and a prominent grille.
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“A Lexus RZ 450e appears once as an electric vehicle, and again as sculpture in Circle Car, looped nose-to-tail, driving infinitely round,” the manufacturer said in a statement.   

“Similarly, the Lexus RX 450h+ appears twice, first in familiar form and then in Twisted Car, in dramatic longitudinal torsion, its lines liquified and surface features pulled along tangent to the twisting spiral of its body.”

You could be excused for thinking the official photos of the creations are the result of CGI or someone feeding a set of instructions into ChatGPT, but the vehicles are very real. If you don’t believe us, check out the YouTube video of Twisted Car being moved in New York.

Overhead view of a futuristic silver sports car with swirling metallic ribbons wrapped around its body.
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According to the Artsy website, the sculptures were made using conventional autobody techniques, with thousands of individual pieces – some of which are genuine Lexus parts – added to a steel armature, then given a few coats of duco.

Lexus senior marketing manager Lisa McQueen said the exhibits allowed the company to “take the automobile way beyond its familiar form and explore, movement, transformation and possibility in an entirely new way”.

Cars have often been turned into artworks. Possibly the most famous examples are BMW’s Art Cars, which were turned into canvases by some of the most famous names of the 20th century. Andy Warhol transformed an M1, and Roy Lichtenstein did the same to a 3201 Group 5 racer.