BMW Art Cars come to Manila

BMW automobiles, old or new, are veritable automotive works of art replete with iconic designs. The sporty 2-door and 4-door profiles, the rakish twin-kidney grilles, the quad headlamps, the dogleg Hofmeister kink at the rearmost pillar, the unmistakable taillight clusters – few cars have as many signature styling cues as a BMW.

But what if you transform these rolling works of art into blank canvases and let the fertile imaginations of some of the world’s best and most famous artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein work their magic on sheetmetal?

If you think that that would be a match made in design heaven, then you’re not too far off. Indeed, what you will have is nothing short of a moving masterpiece. These priceless works of art are collectively known as the BMW Art Cars.

Through the initiative of the BMW Group, car enthusiasts and art aficionados in the Philippines will be have the unique opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds and see four masterpieces from the internationally acclaimed 15-car BMW Art Cars Collection.

Featuring the "rolling sculptures" by world renowned artists Frank Stella (1976), Roy Lichtenstein (1977), Andy Warhol (1979), and Ken Done (1989), the four-week long exhibit will go on display at the Ayala Museum in Makati City from March 6 to March 31, 2007.

The BMW Art Car collection is an artistic depiction of the times, and has come to represent the design and cultural trends of several eras – from the groovy 70’s to the 80’s new wave and the 90’s grunge. In all, fifteen noted artists representing nine countries from each continent have transformed BMW automobiles into BMW Art Cars – integrating contemporary culture with artistic expression and technological innovations.

The first BMW Art Car was conceived in 1975, the year that French auctioneer and racing car driver Hervé Poulain initially joined the gruelling 24-hour Le Mans race. In his desire to make an artistic statement during his Le Mans debut, he commissioned his friend, famed sculptor Alexander Calder, to complete a painting on his race car: a BMW 3.0 CSL.

In the years that followed, the concept of transforming BMW racing sports cars into mobile works of art had attracted very influential artists, from Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol to Robert Rauschenberg and David Hockney.

The spectrum of designated models widened in the 1980s, when the painting of art cars was expanded to cover all BMW production models.

At present, the BMW Group seeks to share the enjoyment of the BMW Art Car collection through exhibits worldwide. Aside from being regularly showcased in prominent museums such as the Louvre in Paris, the Royal Academy in London, the New York Whitney Museum of Modern Art, Venice’s Palazzo Grassi, and the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, selected BMW Art Cars are now on a touring exhibition to serve as a source of delight and inspiration to thousands of art – and automotive – aficionados worldwide.

In Manila, the arrival of the BMW Art Cars serves as a continuation of the efforts of BMW Philippines to promote the appreciation of the arts. An example of past initiatives towards this objective was the introduction of the new BMW 7 Series at the Ayala Museum – the first and only car ever to be allowed entry there. During this time, the 7 Series was launched among six masterpieces by National Artists, and described as "a masterwork in design and engineering" by Ayala Museum Director Dr. Florina Baker.

After its exhibition in Manila, the Art Cars of Stella, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Done will travel to the Artsonje Museum in Seoul, Korea and then to Australia, New Zealand, and India. After the Asia-Pacific tour, the BMW Art Cars will be displayed in museums in Turkey and in the US before its return to Europe where museum events in France, Spain and Portugal are being planned.

The four BMW Art Cars that will be featured in the Philippines at the Ayala Museum are the 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL by Frank Stella, abstract expressionist and acclaimed artist of "Transitional Paintings" and "Black Paintings"; the 1977 BMW 320i Group 5 race car by Roy Lichtenstein, the father of American pop art; the 1979 BMW M1 Group 4 race car by world-renowned Pop Art Culture artist Andy Warhol; and the 1989 BMW M3 Group A race car by Ken Done, leading Australian painter and top graphic designer.

Admission to the ground floor level of Ayala Museum, where the cars are on the display, is free. The other 11 cars of the 15-car BMW Art Car collection are likewise represented in the Ayala Museum as glass-cased replica scale models complete with an audio-video presentation for each model. Simply put, this is an exhibit that shouldn’t be missed.