Munich. The legendary series of Automobile Artworks
is coming to Munich. At the new special exhibition entitled “BMW Art
Cars | How a vision became reality.” visitors will have the
opportunity to immerse themselves in the World of BMW Art Cars at the
BMW Museum. Between 10 October 2018 and February 2019, they will be
able to admire seven out of the 19 vehicles in existence. Apart from
the first four Art Cars known at the “Big Four” executed by the
artists Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy
Warhol, the rolling sculpture #17 by Jeff Koons will also be on show.
Another highlight of the exhibition is provided with the latest BMW
Art Cars #18 by Chinese video artist Cao Fei and #19 by US artist John
Baldessari as these cars celebrate their premiere in Europe and take
the legendary series forward. The special exhibition also salutes the
work of the French originator Hervé Poulain. As an auctioneer and
racing driver, he always straddled the worlds of art and motor sport.
He created a link between the two genres with his idea of establishing
a synthesis between art and motor sport that has continued to this
day. The exhibition presents a range of documents from his collection
alongside works from the visual arts with themes dedicated to motor sport.
Cao Fei takes the Art Car Series into the 21st century.
Cao Fei and John Baldessari are following in the footsteps of their
illustrious predecessors as the youngest artist and the oldest artist.
They were selected by a Jury made up of museum directors and curators
to design the latest artworks to join the collection – two BMW M6 GT3
automobiles. The 40-year-old Chinese artist Cao Fei links video art
with 3D animations along with elements of virtual reality to present
scenes of social watershed in her home country. Her BMW Art Car #18
finished in carbon black reflects the speed of change taking place in
China and the traditions and future of this country. She takes the
collection into the 21st century with the first BMW Art Car combined
with an Augmented Reality-Video.
Subtle minimalism and explosive design in bright colours.
The work of US artist John Baldessari has ranked among the pioneering
achievements of contemporary art since the 1960s. The legend of
American conceptual art has implemented his famous hallmark in the
19th BMW Art Car, and as a confirmed minimalist he has worked
exclusively with the colours red, yellow, blue and green. The BMW Art
Car #17 created by Jeff Koons in the form of the BMW M3 GT2 makes a
strikingly gaudy impact at the special exhibition and represents a Pop
Art hommage to Koons’ role model Andy Warhol with a lively mix of
graphic designs, vivacious colours and representations of speed and
explosive forces.
The history of the BMW Art Cars.
The “big four” made their contributions thanks to Hervé Poulain’s
contacts with the most significant Pop Art exponents of their time. On
his initiative, the US artist Alexander Calder painted a 480 hp BMW
3.0 CSL in powerful colours and gave it elegantly curved surfaces in
1975. Hervé Poulain himself drove this car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
in 1975. The artwork created by New Yorker Frank Stella in the
following year similarly lined up on the starting grid at Le Mans in
1976. Pop Art legend Andy Warhol followed suit by immortalising his
contribution in an artwork with a highly individual approach. By
contrast with his predecessors, he did not first construct a true
scale model of the vehicle before handing over the final design to his
assistants. In 1979, he himself painted the BMW M1 Group 4 automobile
from start to finish. He accomplished this in just 28 minutes. When
the camera teams arrived to film the action, the artwork was almost
completed. Only the final brushstrokes could be documented on film.
Other renowned artists from different countries and art genres have
designed BMW series automobiles and racing cars, including Austrian
painter Ernst Fuchs (1982), Spanish architect and sculptor César
Manrique (1990) and British painter and draughtsman David Hockney
(1995), before US artist Jeff Koons concluded the series for the time
being with his Art Car #17 in 2010. The legendary series looks back on
a history lasting more than 40 years and it has been continued with
the BMW Art Cars #18 and #19. The Art Cars are now being presented at
the special exhibition in the BMW Museum and this heritage can be
experienced until February 2019.