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19 | John Baldessari

December 2, 2016 By Philip Papeman

2016 BMW M6 GTLM

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.

Gallery

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John Baldessari and the BMW Art Car

On November 30, 2016, 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, BMW Motorsport Director, 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.

“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

Sources

  • BMW Art Car 19 World Premiere
  • BMW AG
  • BMW Art Cars

Filed Under: BMW Art Cars Tagged With: 2016, art car, baldessari, bmw, bmw art car, john baldessari

BMW Art Cars

18 | Cao Fei

19 | John Baldessari

17 | Jeff Koons

16 | Olafur Eliasson

15 | Jenny Holzer

14 | David Hockney

13 | Sandro Chia

12 | Esther Mahlangu

11 | A.R. Penck

10 | César Manrique

09 | Matazo Kayama

08 | Ken Done

07 | Michael Jagamara Nelson

06 | Robert Rauschenberg

05 | Ernst Fuchs

04 | Andy Warhol

03 | Roy Lichtenstein

02 | Frank Stella

01 | Alexander Calder

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Bmwartcarcollection.com is an independent enthusiast website dedicated to the BMW Art Cars and is in no way affiliated with, or endorsed by, BMW AG or BMW of North America. BMW, the BMW badge, and any related logotypes, devices, names and slogans are registered trademarks of BMW AG and are used here for identification purposes only. Every effort has been made to give proper and prominent credit to original sources.

BMW Art Cars

Since 1975, 19 international artists have created BMW Art Cars. The collection began when French race car driver and art aficionado Hervé Poulain, in collaboration with BMW Motorsport Director Jochen Neerpasch, asked his artist friend Alexander Calder to design a car.

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