Art on Wheels

For over 30 years, bmw has offered renowned artists a challenging New field of exploration. The result is a collection of works, called art cars, that have been showcased in the world’s Best art spaces. To celebrate the german automaker’s 30th anniversary of the collection, a number of selected cars have Started touring the world. Carla bianpoen took a passing glance at the auto art during its stop in singapore.

Last September, BMW Art Cars started touring Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. In Singapore, designs by Frank Stella, Ken Done, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were shown on BMW racing cars. Other cars were on display together with the works of top Chinese artists in Shanghai, as well as Taiwan and South Korea.

For the public here it was virtually their first encounter with what is known as the “art car”, although the term in itself is nothing new. Car owners with vision and imagination have long painted their cars, either to make a statement, refurbish an old vehicle or just out of an inner urge to be different from the rest.

In time, the art car garnered real hype, with celebrities jumping on the bandwagon. John Lennon, for one, became known for his Rolls Royce adorned with colorful swirling patterns of abstract shapes. Closer to home, Indonesia’s grandmaster of painting Affandi covered his vehicle with his signature artistic expressions. The BMW cars’ difference is that they are commissioned artworks by acclaimed artists, although the idea started exactly because someone wanted his car to be different. Hervé Poulain was both a man of the art world, and a passionate racer.

He asked his friend, the American artist Alexander Calder, to make his car stand out at the Le Mans racing track, and it did. The enthusiastic public reception at Le Mans prompted BMW to commission renowned masters of the art through a panel of distinguished curators. Initially concentrating on the racing models of the brand, the spectrum expanded in the course of time to include series vehicles.

Besides Calder’s pioneering work, BMW’s collection of 15 art cars includes contributions from greats who applied their personal stamp while taking into consideration the characteristics of the car they were decorating. Andy Warhol, for instance, this time refrained from his signature Cambell Soup cans or Marilyn Monroe pop images and instead expressed the speed of the BMW M1 in a blur of vivid colors.

Others sought to include their national features. Ken Done takes the parrot as an Australian icon, while Michael Jagamara Nelson draws on his aboriginal cultural heritage in the almost abstract shapes on the black M3, South African Esther Mahlangu is inspired by the tribal decorations of her homeland, and Japanese Matazo Kayama incorporates associations with modern Japan in his fascination with BMW technology.

A truly inspired work of ingenuity comes from British artist David Hockney, who made the inside of the 850 CSi car outwardly visible.

“BMW gave me the model of the car and I kept looking at it and looking at it,” Hockney has said of the creative process.

Stylized intake manifolds of the engine appear on the hood, and the silhouette of the driver can be seen on the door. And you don’t just see the inside of the car, but also excerpts of an abstract landscape, because “traveling around in a car means experiencing landscapes, which is one of the reasons why I chose green as a color”.

Also fascinating is the design of American concept artist Jenny Holzer, on the 15th art car, the V12 LMR, which fully captures the ambience of Le Mans. Her text “Protect me from what I want”, made in chrome letters from reflecting metal foil and outlined with phosphorescent color, serves as a magical plea rushing along the track.

BMW’s 16th art car is now in the works. Olafur Eliasson, a Danish artist of Icelandic parentage, is known for works combining an amazing blend of vision, imagination and professional skill. His work, like those that came before, will likely be something to behold.

The Pioneer
Hervé Poulain is a renowned auctioneer. Son of a car dealer, he has been participating in automotive competitions for 30 years, combining his passion for art and speed. He took part in the Le Mans 24 Hours a total of 13 times behind the wheel of cars decorated by artists such as Warhol, César, Arman, Calder, Stella and Wolinski.

Artists and drivers share the same attraction for the nobility of structure and performance, he once said. A self-taught painter who was inspired by the light in different seasons, he also stated that the automobile has occupied an important thematic place in “Pop Art” and “Nouvelle Figuration” as a symbol of a consumer society” In 1973 he published Art and the Automobile, now a reference source. In 1974 he organized his first antique car auction, adding automobilia and car-related drawings in 1975. That same year, he brought art to Le Mans for its legendary 24-hour-long race.

He drove his BMW 3.0CSL, a car decorated by his friend, the American artist Alexander Calder. Although he had to drop out after nine hours, the decorated car was a sensation and drew massive attention from the public, and inspired the BMW collection of Art Cars.

+ Carla Bianpoen (from various sources)

Home