“Speed !”

Dimensions: 40” x 90”

Medium: Oil on canvas

Artist: Greg Busch

A blur of chrome, a stretch of highway, a tunnel at dusk — Speed ! is Busch’s tribute to the mythos of motion and masculinity, pulled straight from the 1981 cult film Cannonball Run. But this is no mere still from cinema. It’s a psychological portrait disguised as a car painting.

The Corvette tears through the composition at full throttle, but it’s the reflection that stops you: the faint face of Dean Martin, cool and composed, visible in the polished curve of the fender. It’s a moment easily missed — a ghost in the machine. Busch rewards those who look twice.

With his roots in automotive design, Busch renders the car not just with reverence, but with insight — speed here is more than velocity. It’s seduction. Escape. Persona.

The clean lines of the gas station, the symmetrical tunnel, and the razor-straight road all play against the curve of the car—structure versus instinct. This is America’s love affair with the open road, interrupted just long enough to see who's behind the wheel.

Speed ! isn’t about driving. It’s about performance — cinematic, cultural, and personal. And like all great chases, it leaves the viewer somewhere between exhilarated and unsettled.