[Harold Wood]

I was very lucky this morning to have access to the setting up of BMW's ICA Art car exhibition in London . The city is buzzing with Olympic fever and a great place to be. ( This must be the most expensive BMW coffee meet ever with one car worth at least 200 million UK pounds!)


BMW press release on the Art Drive BMW Art Car Collection display:

ART DRIVE! The BMW Art Car Collection 1975-2010. Exhibition of Art Cars by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and David Hockney - On Show for First Time in the UK in East End Car Park.

20.07.2012

London. The ICA, in partnership with BMW, the Mayor of London and the London 2012 Festival, will take over a landmark car park in Shoreditch for two weeks only from 21 July to 4 August for a unique exhibition of the BMW ART CAR COLLECTIONon show for the first time in the UK. Admission is free.

The collection, initiated over 35 years ago, features BMW cars transformed by some of the world’s leading artists including: Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Ernst Fuchs, Robert Rauschenberg, M.J. Nelson, Ken Done, Matazo Kayama, César Manrique, Jeff Koons, A.R. Penck, Esther Mahlangu, Sandro Chia, Jenny Holzer and David Hockney.

ART DRIVE! THE BMW ART CAR COLLECTION will show the work of 16 international artists over six floors in the NCP Car Park on Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch. The project, which brings together BMW’s excellence in car design and the ICA’s passion for and commitment to art, will be a one-off opportunity for art and design lovers as well as car enthusiasts.

The BMW ART CAR COLLECTION started when French racing driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain invited his friend Alexander Calder to design a car that married artistic excellence to 'an already perfect object'. The end result was a racing car that would ultimately compete in the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1975. And so the BMW Art Car was born…

Since then some of the greatest names in contemporary art have added to the collection creating a wide range of artistic interpretations. David Hockney’s 1995 Art Car paints the inside of the car on the outside, revealing everything from internal engine parts to a dog in the back. Rauschenberg incorporates photographic transfers of Ingres paintings while Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein used the canvas of the car to portray the essence of speed.

[mshab356]

Whatever it was still a cool thread and nice pics!

[OSAB1]

Very nice

[IND-Distribution]

Wow im speechless. Would love to attend to this!

[JoeyBananaz18]

So amazing. Saw, warhols, Lichtenstein's, and Stella's when the new Z4 came out and they had a display in grand central station. I'd love to see them all go on tour. Any idea if they're coming to the states?

[jonasaurus]

Heading there this afternoon should be good!

[M5007]

Some of those art cars are just fugly. Overall I like. Thanks for sharing with all the photos.

[Harold Wood]

Originally Posted by ACSE90

Some of those art cars are just fugly. Overall I like. Thanks for sharing with all the photos.

Thanks, I still have goosebumps from standing next to them.
We have just created our own version at our dealership, we will show it later on Bimmerpost!

[stopper]

Andy Warhol, you will forever get a big on this one.

My humble opinion aside, I would have loved to see these in person. Some very interested pieces of rolling art.

[positiveions]

I want to buy the mini scale version of some of these cars.

[E91 Hoarder]

Originally Posted by Harold Wood

( This must be the most expensive BMW coffee meet ever with one car worth at least 200 million UK pounds!)

Which one?

[Athabascan]

Very nice job Harold. I've loved the Jeff Koons car from the moment I first saw it. Understanding that you have to protect your copyright; any chance that you can share a high res (i.e. wallpaper) of "bmwartcar35"?

[Horsey]

Originally Posted by mshab356

Whatever it was still a cool thread and nice pics!

For sure ... maybe my tongue in cheek intent was lost in the posting (which now seems to have vanished...).

Still cant quite work out why two almost identical threads have completely different response profiles though ...

Must be something wrong with my pictures!

[Raja Ventureshield]

harold, na na na na (as Master P would say).

[richb811]

Fantastic pictures. I'm in London at the moment so I might try to check it out tomorrow!

[Sean@PSI]

Absolutely incredible!

[GOLFFRR]

sweet!

[SE3P_to_E90]

phenomenal. that jeff koons m3 gt2 is just, mesmerizing...

[Matski]

Think I'll make the effort to see this.

[Nang Vann]

Nice!

[ddk632]

Wow! If you are in London and stop by I'd love to see more pics.

I just bought my first Art Car model (Jeff Koons M3 GT2) a few weeks ago as a gift for my about-to-be 2 year old daughter, as she was at the dealer with me and was mesmerized by the one on display.

Now I, surely neither the first nor the last, have been reading up on the BMW Art Car history and have become inspired to attempt to collect all 17 art cars (and an additional Koons car so I still have one when my daughter takes hers with her one day) and display them in a large shelved glass case.

I hope this exhibit makes its way to the states one day as it would be amazing to see these beauties in person.

My favorites are the 850 CSI, the Andy Warhol M1, and the Koons M3 GT2. You Brits are lucky to have this in your backyard!

[Matski]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Wow! If you are in London and stop by I'd love to see more pics.

I just bought my first Art Car model (Jeff Koons M3 GT2) a few weeks ago as a gift for my about-to-be 2 year old daughter, as she was at the dealer with me and was mesmerized by the one on display.

Now I, surely neither the first nor the last, have been reading up on the BMW Art Car history and have become inspired to attempt to collect all 17 art cars (and an additional Koons car so I still have one when my daughter takes hers with her one day) and display them in a large shelved glass case.

I hope this exhibit makes its way to the states one day as it would be amazing to see these beauties in person.

My favorites are the 850 CSI, the Andy Warhol M1, and the Koons M3 GT2. You Brits are lucky to have this in your backyard!

The exhibition was great, but I'm not the best photographer in the world, so the lighting conditions gave me some problems.

Any way I uploaded to my Facebook public gallery here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1&l=d5eedd4de4

Here's one of two I like:










Like I say more here: Any way I uploaded to my Facebook public gallery here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1&l=d5eedd4de4
... and it includes a quick visit to Park Lane BMWi .. i8 looks better in the flesh than in pictures, no doubt.