BMW unveils its latest 'Art Car,' courtesy of abstract artist Julie Mehretu
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BMW and Ethiopian-American artist Julie Mehretu unveiled her newest 'Art Car' at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, France.
Over the past 50 years, artists including Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer and Robert Rauschenberg have been chosen by the luxury car company to use a BMW as their canvas, each adorning one of the famous BMW Art Cars in their signature style.
Ethiopian-American artist Julie Mehretu, known for her work in abstract painting, was chosen last year to create the company’s newest ‘Art Car.’ Her artwork, painted on a BMW M Hybrid V8, was recently unveiled at the Pompidou Centre in Paris and will be on the track at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race next month.
The BMW M Hybrid V8, a plug-in hybrid, is a track-only racing car created to compete in the international endurance racing circuit. Designed and engineered in collaboration with the Italian race car manufacturer Dallara, it’s low and wide with an enormous rear wing and a large vertical rudder.
For the commission, which marks the 20th BMW Art Car, Mehretu chose to adapt one of her most famous works: The painting “Everywhen,” which is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The painting — and the car — are covered in broad washes color cut through with broad black streaks and lines.
“In the studio where I had the model of the BMW M Hybrid V8 I was just sitting in front of the painting and I thought: What would happen if this car seemed to go through that painting and becomes affected by it,” Mehretu said in a statement. “The idea was to make a remix, a mash-up of the painting. I kept seeing that painting kind of dripping into the car.”
The first BMW Art Car was painted in 1975 by the American sculptor Alexander Calder after French racing driver Hervé Poulain brought the idea to BMW. Poulain drove the Calder-painted BMW 3.0 CSL at Le Mans that year. In 1977, Roy Lichtenstein covered a BMW 320 Group 5 in the graphic stripes and dots he was renowned for; Warhol painted a BMW M1 in 1979 with textured, pastel brushstrokes.
The first woman to take on a BMW Art Car was South African artist Esther Mahlangu, who in 1991 painted a 525i sedan. In 1996, Holzer covered a BMW Le Mans race car in the words “Protect Me From What I Want,” among other provocative phrases.
