BMW News

As the collection of BMW Art Cars has grown since the first one was painted in 1975, it has almost gotten to the point where you can’t tell the players without a scorecard. Well, BMW has given us the scorecard. As we previewed some weeks ago, BMW has created the definitive book on the subject, entitled appropriately enough, Art Cars. It comes out today and to celebrate its release, BMW is presenting the 850CSi Art Car by David Hockney at Paris Photo’s second edition at the Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, California. The book is published by Hatje Cantz and is a richly illustrated catalogue of the legendary BMW Art Cars’ history.

Almost 20 years after its creation in 1995 this particular Art Car returns to its roots in Los Angeles, David Hockney’s home town for more than 40 years. “BMW gave me a model of the car and I looked at it time and time again,” says David Hockney commenting on the process of creating the Art Car. “Finally, I thought it would be a good idea to show the car as if one could see inside.” Hockney literally turned the car inside out, making it transparent through unique perception.

As explained in their press release, BMW Group is the official partner of Paris Photo Los Angeles and the night before the start of the art fair will celebrate the U.S. launch of its BMW Art Car book. The Art Cars reflect the cultural and historical development of art, design, and technology and have been presented by major museums around the world, including the Guggenheim and the Louvre. On 200 pages with 148 pictures portraits and interviews, the book shows the motives and the approaches of the artists as well as the historical development of the collection.

 Since 1975, reowned artists from throughout the world have designed BMW automobiles of their times, all making different artistic statements. The seventeen exhibits created for the Art Car Collection until now include works by exceptional artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Jenny Holzer, Olafur Eliasson, and Jeff Koons, who has also illustrated the cover of the book.

In addition to the David Hockney Art Car, and taking every advantage of the opportunity, BMW will display what some consider another work of art—the BMW i8 plug in hybrid carbon-fiber sports car.

For over ten years, BMW has taken pride in being an active partner of the some of the most established international art fairs, including Frieze New York and London, as well as Art Basel in Hong Kong, Miami, and Basel, the Berlin Gallery Weekend, and TEFAF Maastricht.

Paris Photo Los Angeles is the second U.S. edition of the world’s most celebrated art fair for works created in the photographic medium, and is taking place at Paramount Pictures Studios, offering a great setting to show how artists have been using photography and moving images in their work in the 20th and 21st centuries. The fair will be held April 25–26, 2014 from 12:00 to 7:00 pm and April 27 from 12:00 to 6:00 pm. For more information, visit http://losangeles.parisphoto.com.

—Scott Blazey