Miami Beach. On November 30, the VIP Preview day of
this year’s edition of Art Basel in Miami Beach, the BMW Art Car by
John Baldessari celebrated its world premiere. The 19th vehicle of the
BMW Art Car Collection was designed by the American master of
conceptual art and revealed in the presence of the artist himself,
Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America, and Jens
Marquardt, Director BMW Motorsport, at an exclusive reception at the
Botanical Garden of Miami Beach. John Baldessari’s BMW M6 GTLM, a race
car featuring 585 hp, will be on public display until the closing of
Art Basel. Following the 40-year tradition of BMW Art Cars, John
Baldessari’s “rolling sculpture” will then prove itself on the race
track of Rolex 24 at DAYTONA on January 28 and 29, 2017.
Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America: “It is an
honor to add this new masterpiece by John Baldessari to the BMW Art
Car Collection today. As one of the most important contemporary
artists working today, John joins an incredible group from Calder and
Hockney to Warhol and Koons that has contributed to this collection
over the past forty years. He has used his signature aesthetic
combining color, shapes and text to create a visually stunning work
which will stand out at both the museum and on the racetrack in
Daytona early next year.”
BMW Art Car #19 by John Baldessari
“I have done only one work in my life involving a car before, and
that was an image of a car. So for the BMW Art Car project, I entered
uncharted territory, not just in terms of the subject, but also moving
from two- to three-dimensional art. A challenge I did enjoy! The ideas
all came at once: for instance, the red dot on the roof, so you can
see it from above, FAST on one side and a picture of the car on the
other side. I like the ambiguity, having two-dimension and
three-dimension at the same time. Considering the car as an icon of
contemporary life, my concept turned out playfully satirical, but it
also highlights some of the trademark ideas that I use. So you can
say, the BMW Art Car is definitely a typical Baldessari and the
fastest artwork I ever created!” – John Baldessari
For the 19th BMW Art Car, John Baldessari as the legend of an entire
LA art scene drew on his famous artistic trademarks. Designing the
car, this American artist turned to well-known stylistic devices and
created an iconic work which unites his creative practices of the
past fifty years in a unique manner. As a committed minimalist, he
worked with the colours red, yellow, blue and green and with his
monochrome dots, he left his familiar colourful marks on the M6 GTLM
as well. Baldessari’s ironic play on the multi-dimensionality of the
race car as an art object is most obvious in the graphic reflection of
the car in profile. And with “FAST” as a central typographic element
the artist boldly transports the power of the BMW Art Car to its
outside and makes it visually accessible for the viewers both at the
race track and the museum.
John Baldessari spearheaded and oversaw the design of the 19th BMW
Art Car, which was executed with the help of a team of BMW engineers
in early November at the BMW Body Paint Training Center West in
Oxnard, California.
The BMW M6 GTLM on the race track
In January 2016, the BMW M6 GTLM made its debut on the Daytona
International Speedway. It passed its first test with flying colours
and was ranked fifth. The 19th BMW Art Car will be put to the test at
this very same site and compete at the legendary 24 Hours of Daytona
from January 28 to 29, 2017. Run by BMW Team RLL, the car will be
entered in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC). Since
2009, the BMW Team RLL together with BMW Motorsport North America has
won five titles and twelve victories. And the first season of the BMW
M6 GTLM also was successful with a total of three podium finishes in
Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road America. This track record is to be
continued in 2017. Bill Auberlen (US), Alexander Sims (GB), Augusto
Farfus (BR) and Bruno Spengler (CA) will take turns in driving the BMW
Art Car.
Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director, said, “It will be a great
honour for us to present the 19th BMW Art Car on the race track – and
especially to bring it to an event steeped in tradition such as the 24
Hours of Daytona. The design of this BMW M6 GTLM is absolutely unique.
We will give our very best to ensure that this rolling work of art
will not only provide a visual highlight but also be successful on the track.”
World premiere at Art Basel in Miami Beach
As a global partner of Art Basel, BMW Group has been presenting the
legendary BMW Art Cars at the shows in Miami Beach and Hong Kong for
many years. After displaying many of the “rolling sculptures”,
including the works by Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert
Rauschenberg in the Botanical Garden of Miami Beach, BMW continues its
tradition this year and uses this major platform to present the 19th
BMW Art Car by John Baldessari to a global audience for the very first time.
This year’s edition marks the 15th anniversary of Art Basel in Miami
Beach, Florida. From December 1 to 4, 2016, more than 200 leading
galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa
will present over 4,000 artists of the 20th and 21st century. As in
previous years, BMW will once again provide the official VIP shuttle
service for the guests of the fair. Its fleet of vehicles will provide
an ideal connection between the fair and various satellite events. As
part of Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016, the next round of selections
for the BMW Art Journey will also be held – a global initiative of Art
Basel and BMW to support emerging artist worldwide. Previous winners
include Samson Young, Henning Fehr Philipp Rühr and Abigail Reynolds.
The BMW Art Car Collection
Since 1975, a total of 17 international artists have been
creating BMW Art Cars on the basis of contemporary BMW automobiles.
The collection was inaugurated when French race car driver and art
aficionado Hervé Poulain in collaboration with the then
current BMW Motorsport Director Jochen Neerpasch asked his artist
friend Alexander Calder to design a car. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL,
which in 1975 was raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and became an
instant favourite with the spectators: the BMW Art Car Collection was
born. BMW Art Cars are not only on display in their home, BMW’s museum
in Munich, they also travel internationally to exhibitions and museums
in Asia, Europe and North America.
In November 2015, BMW Group announced two artists to create the next
BMW Art Cars at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In addition to
American artist John Baldessari, multimedia artist Cao Fei, one of
China’s most important contemporary artists who just received the CAA
Artist of the Year award and had a solo show at MoMA PS1 in 2016, is
currently designing another vehicle for this legendary collection. The
world premiere of the 18th BMW Art Car will take place during the
summer of 2017. With their works, Cao Fei and John Baldessari will be
joining the ranks of renowned artists such as Alexander Calder, Frank
Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and David Hockney.
The jury of the 18th and 19th BMW Art Car included the following
members: Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
(New York); Chris Dercon, then Director, Tate Modern (London); Juan
Gaitán, Director, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City);
Gabriele Horn, Director, Berlin Biennale (Berlin); Udo Kittelmann,
Director, Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Dr. Matthias
Mühling, Director, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Munich);
Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery (London); Shwetal
A. Patel, Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India); Beatrix Ruf, Director,
Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam); Bisi Silva, Director, The Centre for
Contemporary Art (Lagos); Philip Tinari, Director, Ullens Center for
Contemporary Art (Bejing) and Adam D. Weinberg, Director, Whitney
Museum of American Art (New York).
For further questions please contact:
Dr. Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49 89 382 24753, Fax: +49 89 382 24418
Leonie Laskowski
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49 89 382 45382, Fax: +49 89 382 24418
Ingo Lehbrink BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
Sports Communications Telephone: +49 89 382 76003
About BMW Group’s Cultural Commitment
For almost 50 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in
over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main
focus of its long-term commitment on contemporary and modern art,
classical music and jazz as well as architecture and design. In 1972,
three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter
specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group’s Munich headquarters.
Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Daniel Barenboim,
Jonas Kaufmann and architect Zaha Hadid have co-operated with BMW.
Currently, female artist Cao Fei from China and American John
Baldessari are creating the next two vehicles for the BMW Art Car
Collection. Besides co-initiatives, such as BMW Tate Live, the BMW Art
Journey and the “Opera for All” concerts in Berlin, Munich and London,
the company also partners with leading museums and art fairs as well
as orchestras and opera houses around the world. The BMW Group takes
absolute creative freedom in all its cultural activities – as this
initiative is as essential for producing groundbreaking artistic work
as it is for major innovations in a successful business.
Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture
and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMW-Group-Culture-925330854231870/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmwgroupculture/
@BMWGroupCulture
#BMWGroupCulture
About Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the
world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in
Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong. Defined by its host city and
region, each show is unique, as reflected in its participating
galleries, the artworks presented, and the parallel programming
produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition.
In recent years, Art Basel’s art-world engagement has expanded beyond
art fairs. In 2014, Art Basel launched its Crowdfunding Initiative, in
collaboration with Kickstarter, which has helped catalyzed much-needed
support for outstanding non-commercial art projects worldwide and has
helped pledge over $1.2 million to creative projects all over the
world. For Art Basel Cities, launched in 2016, Art Basel will work
with select partner cities to develop vibrant and content-driven
programs specific to the individual city. Connecting them to the
global art world through Art Basel’s expertise and network, Art Basel
Cities supports its partner cities in developing their unique cultural
landscape. The first city Art Basel is partnering with for Art Basel
Cities is Buenos Aires. For further information please visit artbasel.com.
The BMW Group
With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the
world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles
and also provides premium financial and mobility services. As a global
company, the BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly facilities
in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.
In 2015, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.247 million cars and
nearly 137,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the
financial year 2015 was approximately € 9.22 billion on revenues
amounting to € 92.18 billion. As of 31 December 2015, the BMW Group
had a workforce of 122,244 employees.
The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term
thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established
ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain,
comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to
conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupview
Google+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.com