BMW Art Cars In Pole Position Under The Dome

MEDIA ALERT 25 June 2007

Art cars cruise into pole position under the Dome

Since Alexander Calder gave driver Herve Poulain's BMW 3.0 CSL a new paint job in 1975 for the 24 Hour Le Mans race, both BMW and the public have had a love affair with 'art cars', a vehicle modified as an act of personal expression.

Australian Ken Done's 1989 "parrots and parrot fish" BMW M3

BMW's famous four from it's collection of Art Cars, roll into Auckland Museum Dome on 16 July, 2007.

As a result of the car's popularity, BMW commissioned the experiment to continue, asking some of the art world's most celebrated minds to design artwork for their newer models competing in Le Mans.

With names like prominent pop artist Roy Litchenstein, post-painterly abstractionist Frank Stella and the iconic Andy Warhol, the cars became not only synonymous with the manufacturer, but also retrospectively echoed much later In newer models this decade.

With Warhol, Litchenstein and Stella involved, BMW commissioned fifteen more cars to be decorated with more and more artists contributing to collection; Ernst Fuchs, Robert Rauschenberg, Jenny Holzer and Sandro Chia used the cars as a blank canvas, treating the works as if integral to their own series, while the fascination of the public ever increased.

Today, the fascination with the machines is shared by both patrons of the art world and car enthusiasts alike; the concept bore many imitators, either custom building a body themselves or creating stunning visual pieces - many of which showcased at the North American "Burning Man" festival.

The collection of BMW's original four art cars have been showcased around such prominent museums as the Guggenheim in New York, the Palazzo Grassi in Italy and France's Centre Pompidou and the Louvre.

Those this side of the world won't need to venture far out to see the exhibit as BMW bring the 'famous four' works to the new Events Center under the Dome at Auckland Museum in July for the first time.

Featuring Warhol's 1979 "...portraying speed pictorially" BMW M1, Litchenstein's 1977 "dots and lines" BMW 320i, Stella's 1976 "agreeable decoration" BMW CSL 3.0 and Australian Ken Done's 1989 "parrots and parrot fish" BMW M3.

Event Centre
16 July - 12 August
Free with Entry donation

ENDS

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