BMW’s latest ‘Art Car’ is no gallery queen!
In the spirit of Calder, Stella, Lichtenstein, Warhol, and Holzer, BMW announced today that the 17th Art Car, created by Jeff Koons, will race where the first rolling pieces of art by legendary artists raced – at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France (June 12-13, 2010). Koons’ canvas is a BMW M3 GT2, homologated to compete at this year’s running of Le Mans. In another nod to tradition, Koons will present and sign his car at Centre Pompidou in Paris on June 1, 2010, just as Roy Lichtenstein did in 1977.
Koons unveiled his preliminary design concept for the car today at a press conference in New York City. As part of his creative process, the artist collected images of racecars and graphics, vibrant colors and speed. He layered them into a digital collage depicting his sources of inspiration. The resulting graphic conceived by Koons – evocative of power, motion and light and rendered in the artist’s signature saturated hues on a black ground set against the car’s silver interior – will impart a dynamic appearance to the racecar even when it’s standing still.
“These racecars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy,” said Koons. “You can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car – it’s really to connect with that power."
Centre Pompidou President Alain Seban, BMW of North America President Jim O’Donnell, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen, and BMW Le Mans driver Andy Priaulx joined Koons at the press conference.
“This is a momentum building year for us that speaks to the essence of the brand and the latest chapter of the BMW Art Car program is certainly part of this,” said O’Donnell. “It’s an absolute delight for all of us to be working with Jeff on this program that is part of the fabric of BMW.”
As part of the process, Koons joined BMW’s American Le Mans Series race team for testing in Sebring, Florida, on February 23. He was able to experience the M3 GT2 at race speed to further inspire his design. As Koons describes it, he witnessed “the raw unfiltered performance” of the M3 GT2 from the seat of a historic BMW M1 racecar. Koons also drove a BMW M3 Coupe on the circuit to further the dynamic exercise.
Today, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen announced the driver line-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Andy Priaulx (GB), Dirk Müller (DE) and Dirk Werner (DE) will race the BMW Art Car #79. Jörg Müller (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR), Uwe Alzen (DE) will drive the BMW Le Mans car #78.
French auctioneer and racer Hervé Poulain first had the idea of asking an artist to paint the car he himself would compete with. Taking up this initiative in 1975, American artist Alexander Calder painted a BMW racing car, thus laying the foundation. The Art Car experiment was soon continued: a year later, Calder Art Car co-driver Sam Posey introduced Frank Stella to the idea of BMW Art Cars when the New York-based artist covered a BMW with his typical grid-like pattern. Stella’s work was followed by a series of celebrated pop artists: Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Apart from Rauschenberg’s Art Car, all these took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race, some of them enjoying remarkable success.
After taking a break in the 1980’s, the Art Car returned to its origins at Le Mans in 1999, when American concept artist Jenny Holzer “wrote” her truisms on a
BMW V12 Le Mans racecar.
Koons’ creative process for the BMW Art Car mirrors techniques, some borrowed from transportation design and development, which he regularly employs for his artistic production. For example, in the creation of Koons’ monumental sculptures, his studio uses 3-D CAD models to evaluate the surfaces, assembles them via methods found in custom bike shops, and paints them in a manner based on sophisticated automotive painting techniques.
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“It is fitting that Jeff Koons’ car will follow in the storied tradition of the renowned artists who created the early race-inspired BMW Art Cars,” said O’Donnell. “We look forward to BMW’s return to Le Mans – and perhaps even sharing a toast with Jeff at the finish line.”
Derived from the BMW M3 high-performance sports car, the BMW M3 GT2 boasts a 4.0-liter, 500 horsepower V8 engine, an upgraded chassis, competition brakes, and extensive use of lightweight materials. Able to accelerate from 0 to 100 mph in 3.4 seconds, the BMW M3 GT2 is rapidly emerging as a real first year contender at this year’s event.
Beginning in September, Jeff Koons’ Art Car will be on view at the home of all Art Cars, the BMW Museum in Munich, as part of a special exhibition commemorating the program’s 35th anniversary.
For more information on BMW Art Cars, please visit www.independent-collectors.com/bmwartcars
For more information about 2010 BMW vehicles, please visit http://www.bmwusa.com/