Welcome to BMW Today!
My name is Ede Weihretter, I’m a trainer and BMW Driving Experience Instructor
and today’s chapter is all about the famous BMW Art Cars.
My guest today is Thomas Girst. Hello Thomas!
Hi there, Ede!
Thomas, are you the boss of the BMW Classic Cars?
No such luck, I wish but I’m in charge of the BMW Art Car Series
as well of BMW Group’s cultural engagement worldwide.
Thomas, there are two legends in one masterpiece here, the M1
painted by Andy Warhol. Is this the most expensive car BMW has?
Ede, that is not of your business, first and foremost, and, as you know, we don’t want
to talk about prices because if we are looking at an artwork like this: what does the price
tell you about the significance of this amazing car. But, as you asked, there are some people
who said that this is not only the most expensive BMW but actually
the most expensive car on planet earth.
Alright. How was this car created?
Well, to create the most expensive car on planet earth Warhol took himself 28 minutes.
He flew in with his entourage, came to Munich and painted this car at the paint shop of
Walter Maurer. Warhol sent in some designs before. He came up with a camouflage pattern
– camouflage, 1979, World War II, Germany – you know, it didn’t go over that well
when he opened up these connections. So, he actually decided that he was going to come over.
He came with his entourage, came to the paint shop and then, when you really look at the car
right here, what he did – because he did it so fast – was turn around the brush
and scratch into the wet surface. So, that creates all these patterns.
And as you know, this car has more than 500 horsepower, goes over 300 km/h
and Warhol actually said that he wants all these colors to blur when the car is racing by you
during the greatest endurance race on the planet, the 24-hours-race of Le Mans.
Thomas, how does this come together: Arts and BMW Racing?
This series didn’t come into being because PR and marketing people were putting
the heads together thinking how can we introduce BMW to the arts.
It actually happened on the race track. Hervé Poulain was passionate about racing,
passionate about the arts and Jochen Neerpasch, the founder of BMW Motorsports,
they got to know each other and Hervé Poulain actually asked him in 1975 whether he could
join the BMW race team by having a BMW painted by the great painter Alexander Calder.
Jochen Neerpasch was crazy enough to say yes to this idea and ever since then the
BMW Art Cars Series started to kick off.
So, this was also racing?
Yes, this was racing in 1979, came in second in its class.
What would have been happened if this car would have been crashed?
Well, you know, that is always the risk that you’re taking.
Of course, the painters, they always create two or three models, if parts get ripped apart
or if they get destroyed during the race, then you would be able to put a new part on.
So, that is part of the thing.
So, has Warhol designed more than one?
No, he just designed this car, that’s it.
You know, these BMW Art Cars are so unique, that’s what makes them so priceless of course.
And if you look at what Warhol did at the very end, when he was done,
you know, being a machine that he always wanted to be but he being an actual painter
creating a paint on an industrial design object, he used his fingers and signed
the car right here: Andy Warhol – when he was done at this paint shop outside of Munich
upon completion of the car.
That is crazy! Are all of those BMW Art Cars are race cars?
I wish I could say yes but no! At the beginning of the trajectory all these cars were
racing in Le Mans. With Jeff Koons, with Jenny Holzer, with Cao Fei, with John Baldessari
we went back into racing. But I believe in the 80s and also in the early 90s
BMW was branching out, it was becoming a hugely successful international company
and I believe that the markets were asked to provide their own BMW Art Cars
and those were regular series cars created by amazing artists such as the Ndebele tribal
artist from South Africa Esther Mahlangu or the aboriginal artist Michael Jagamara Nelson
in Australia, great additions to the BMW Art Cars Series of which they are 19.
You know them all, unbelievable!
Let’s going to have a quick Q&A session!
There will be a test?
Alright, there is the BMW 3.0 CSL from Alexander Calder?
Alexander Calder: amazing car, the first one.
Without this car there wouldn’t be a BMW Art Cars Series and his sculptures were always
called “mobiles”, so, that’s what it is – a mobile car, a mobile artwork,
a rolling sculpture.
How about Frank Stella - same vehicle, 3.0 CSL?
Frank Stella paid tribute to the engineers by putting this blueprint onto the car.
Roy Lichtenstein?
Roy Lichtenstein put a setting sun on the one side and a rising sun on the other side
to pay homage to the 24-hours-race of Le Mans. By the way, Frank Stella became a race driver
after painting the car before Lichtenstein’s.
He knows it all. Andy Warhol, M1?
Well, it’s right here.
We got it.
Ernst Fuchs, he painted a 635 CSI.
Next!
You don’t like that one!
Not such a favorite…
Robert Rauschenberg, also a 635 CSI?
Rauschenberg: also a great artist!
He put all these art historical references around this car which he created in Captiva
on an island in Florida and he said: when this was delivered to his studio, it was all white
and he was almost feeling so romantic about the car that was delivered to his studio.
BMW M3 of Nelson?
Michael Jagamara Nelson: amazing aboriginal artist from Australia and he put all these
ancient symbols and figures onto the car which is a great edition to have.
Okay, now Ken Done, a M3?
Ken Done: same thing: Australian artist, paying tribute to the colors of his country.
Matazo Kayama?
Modern airbrush, ancient techniques, golden car – what’s not to like?!
Cesar Manrique?
Cesar Manrique: amazing colors, great design, good car.
Penck, the Z1?
Drumming and drinking and creating these neanderful stick figures on a red Z1, good car!
Esther Mahlangu?
Esther Mahlangu is the patron saint of South Africa, an amazing car to have in the edition.
She’s the first woman artist to ever tackle the subject matter.
Alright. Sandro Chia on a M3 GTR in 1992?
Sandro Chia, lot of faces on that car looking right back at you.
David Hockney?
David Hockney, one of the greatest artists alive right now.
He put a little dog in the back because he loved his dog so much and thought of the car
while driving through the landscape of California.
Jenny Holzer?
Jenny Holzer is our return to Le Mans. In 1999 we won Le Mans with that very special car.
Jenny Holzer put here amazing truisms on the car like “What urge will save us, now that
sex won’t.” and “Protect me from what I want.”.
An amazing sentence to put onto a race car.
That’s crazy!
Olafur Eliasson?
Olafur Eliasson created a hydrogen car as an Art Car.
It’s a walking freezer with thousands of icicles hanging from this car.
It’s actually a car that breaks with the Art Cars Series anything that came before
but it actually continued after him.
Jeff Koons, M3?
Amazing design you were selling into advertisements for racing in the 70s.
You see it right here on the cover of that book, that is part of his car, many people love it.
It was also racing at Le Mans and he chose the starting number 79 because he was so much
infatuated with Andy Warhol that he wanted the year in which Andy Warhol’s car actually raced
– in 1979. So, you have that great inner connection between those cars
that are not apparent at first glance.
What a cultural scene that is! Okay, 2016, Baldessari?
John Baldessari passed away in early 2020, still miss him dearly, put a red dot
right on the roof of the car because he could not attend the 24-hours-race in Daytona.
He said “I’m going to look at it from my television set in California” and in order for
him to find a car with all the other cars, that’s the reason he put the red dot on it.
Pure genius!
And the final one: Cao Fei, 2017, M6 GT?
Well, Cao Fei is an amazing Chinese artist, third woman artist to tackle the series.
What is great about her is – you know that BMW is going from car manufacturer to mobility
provider to a tech company and we want of course to have that also be part of
what is it that we do in culture. So, Cao Fei, it’s not only the car, which was actually
racing in Macao and was doing pretty good, it is about creating an app, creating a video,
creating augmented reality, creating virtual reality around that car, so all of this together
is the Art Car Project, an immersive experience.
And it was just great for a young chinese artist to take us into the 21st century.
So, the art is developing.
Thomas, one question is: How do you guys choose the car and the artist?
Well, the one great thing is that we don’t have any say in who will be the artist.
We leave that to the experts that are international museum directors, chief creators
from around the world, from all continents, pick the artist, we of course pick the car.
It’s 2020, you have got 19 cars designed, wouldn’t it be a good match
to have a new Art Car right now?
Art Car number 20 in 2020? That would have been lovely but it’s not happening
but we are in the process of course to continue this series, why wouldn’t we?!
To our community: You made them really hot now and they want to see the cars.
Where are those cars on display?
Well, the home of the BMW Art Cars is the BMW Museum, so, there’s at least one car on display
all the time. Many of these cars are, of course, in high demand when it comes to shows
by Warhol, by Koons, by Olafur Eliasson. Curators want to show them around the world in
museums and we of course want to loan those cars, they are kind of good will ambassadors
for our brand but also for this amazing thing that can happen when, you know, designers
and artists work together on a car.
So, Thomas, which one is your favorite then?
Well, you know, I have 3 kids and they always ask me “Who do you love the most, Daddy?”
and it would be the same with the BMW Art Cars, you know, it’s hard for me to pick
and I wouldn’t be able to pick. Your Q&A kind of gave it away which ones I’m more favorite
and less favorite of but if I had to go for one I’d always go with Alexander Calder.
It’s the first one that reject the whole nucleus, everything started from there.
Without that car by Alexander Calder from 1975 there wouldn’t be any other.
Thomas, you are a real professor about BMW Art Cars!
And you can keep the book!
Thank you very much, it was nice talking to you.
Thanks for all the information!
Thank you very much for watching BMW Today.
BMW Art Cars, racing and art come together, explained in an easy and exciting way.
That was very, very cool!
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and stay with us, there is more to come!