World premiere of BMW Art Car by John Baldessari at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016. Art Car will race at Rolex 24 at DAYTONA.

Miami Beach. On November 30, the VIP Preview day of this year’s edition of Art Basel in Miami Beach, the BMW Art Car by John Baldessari celebrated its world premiere. The 19th vehicle of the BMW Art Car Collection was designed by the American master of conceptual art and revealed in the presence of the artist himself, Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America, and Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director, at an exclusive reception at the Botanical Garden of Miami Beach. John Baldessari’s BMW M6 GTLM, a race car featuring 585 hp, will be on public display until the closing of Art Basel. Following the 40-year tradition of BMW Art Cars, John Baldessari’s “rolling sculpture” will then prove itself on the race track of Rolex 24 at DAYTONA on January 28 and 29, 2017. 

Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America: “It is an honor to add this new masterpiece by John Baldessari to the BMW Art Car Collection today. As one of the most important contemporary artists working today, John joins an incredible group from Calder and Hockney to Warhol and Koons that has contributed to this collection over the past forty years. He has used his signature aesthetic combining color, shapes and text to create a visually stunning work which will stand out at both the museum and on the racetrack in Daytona early next year.” 

BMW Art Car #19 by John Baldessari

“I have done only one work in my life involving a car before, and that was an image of a car. So for the BMW Art Car project, I entered uncharted territory, not just in terms of the subject, but also moving from two- to three-dimensional art. A challenge I did enjoy! The ideas all came at once: for instance, the red dot on the roof, so you can see it from above, FAST on one side and a picture of the car on the other side. I like the ambiguity, having two-dimension and three-dimension at the same time. Considering the car as an icon of contemporary life, my concept turned out playfully satirical, but it also highlights some of the trademark ideas that I use. So you can say, the BMW Art Car is definitely a typical Baldessari and the fastest artwork I ever created!” – John Baldessari 

For the 19th BMW Art Car, John Baldessari as the legend of an entire LA art scene drew on his famous artistic trademarks. Designing the car, this American artist turned to well-known stylistic devices and created an iconic work which unites his creative practices of the past fifty years in a unique manner. As a committed minimalist, he worked with the colours red, yellow, blue and green and with his monochrome dots, he left his familiar colourful marks on the M6 GTLM as well. Baldessari’s ironic play on the multi-dimensionality of the race car as an art object is most obvious in the graphic reflection of the car in profile. And with “FAST” as a central typographic element the artist boldly transports the power of the BMW Art Car to its outside and makes it visually accessible for the viewers both at the race track and the museum. 

John Baldessari spearheaded and oversaw the design of the 19th BMW Art Car, which was executed with the help of a team of BMW engineers in early November at the BMW Body & Paint Training Center West in Oxnard, California.

The BMW M6 GTLM on the race track

In January 2016, the BMW M6 GTLM made its debut on the Daytona International Speedway. It passed its first test with flying colours and was ranked fifth. The 19th BMW Art Car will be put to the test at this very same site and compete at the legendary 24 Hours of Daytona from January 28 to 29, 2017. Run by BMW Team RLL, the car will be entered in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC). Since 2009, the BMW Team RLL together with BMW Motorsport North America has won five titles and twelve victories. And the first season of the BMW M6 GTLM also was successful with a total of three podium finishes in Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road America. This track record is to be continued in 2017. Bill Auberlen (US), Alexander Sims (GB), Augusto Farfus (BR) and Bruno Spengler (CA) will take turns in driving the BMW Art Car. 

Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director, said, “It will be a great honour for us to present the 19th BMW Art Car on the race track – and especially to bring it to an event steeped in tradition such as the 24 Hours of Daytona. The design of this BMW M6 GTLM is absolutely unique. We will give our very best to ensure that this rolling work of art will not only provide a visual highlight but also be successful on the track.” 

World premiere at Art Basel in Miami Beach

As a global partner of Art Basel, BMW Group has been presenting the legendary BMW Art Cars at the shows in Miami Beach and Hong Kong for many years. After displaying many of the “rolling sculptures”, including the works by Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg in the Botanical Garden of Miami Beach, BMW continues its tradition this year and uses this major platform to present the 19th BMW Art Car by John Baldessari to a global audience for the very first time. 

This year’s edition marks the 15th anniversary of Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida. From December 1 to 4, 2016, more than 200 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa will present over 4,000 artists of the 20th and 21st century. As in previous years, BMW will once again provide the official VIP shuttle service for the guests of the fair. Its fleet of vehicles will provide an ideal connection between the fair and various satellite events. As part of Art Basel in Miami Beach 2016, the next round of selections for the BMW Art Journey will also be held – a global initiative of Art Basel and BMW to support emerging artist worldwide. Previous winners include Samson Young, Henning Fehr & Philipp Rühr and Abigail Reynolds. 

The BMW Art Car Collection

Since 1975, a total of 17 international artists have been creating BMW Art Cars on the basis of contemporary BMW automobiles. The collection was inaugurated when French race car driver and art aficionado Hervé Poulain in collaboration with the then current BMW Motorsport Director Jochen Neerpasch asked his artist friend Alexander Calder to design a car. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL, which in 1975 was raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and became an instant favourite with the spectators: the BMW Art Car Collection was born. BMW Art Cars are not only on display in their home, BMW’s museum in Munich, they also travel internationally to exhibitions and museums in Asia, Europe and North America. 

In November 2015, BMW Group announced two artists to create the next BMW Art Cars at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In addition to American artist John Baldessari, multimedia artist Cao Fei, one of China’s most important contemporary artists who just received the CAA Artist of the Year award and had a solo show at MoMA PS1 in 2016, is currently designing another vehicle for this legendary collection. The world premiere of the 18th BMW Art Car will take place during the summer of 2017. With their works, Cao Fei and John Baldessari will be joining the ranks of renowned artists such as Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and David Hockney. 

The jury of the 18th and 19th BMW Art Car included the following members: Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); Chris Dercon, then Director, Tate Modern (London); Juan Gaitán, Director, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City); Gabriele Horn, Director, Berlin Biennale (Berlin); Udo Kittelmann, Director, Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Dr. Matthias Mühling, Director, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Munich); Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery (London); Shwetal A. Patel, Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India); Beatrix Ruf, Director, Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam); Bisi Silva, Director, The Centre for Contemporary Art (Lagos); Philip Tinari, Director, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Bejing) and Adam D. Weinberg, Director, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York). 

For further questions please contact:

Dr. Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs 

Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49 89 382 24753, Fax: +49 89 382 24418

Leonie Laskowski

BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs 

Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49 89 382 45382, Fax: +49 89 382 24418

Ingo Lehbrink BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs   

Sports Communications Telephone: +49 89 382 76003

About BMW Group’s Cultural Commitment

For almost 50 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on contemporary and modern art, classical music and jazz as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group's Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Daniel Barenboim, Jonas Kaufmann and architect Zaha Hadid have co-operated with BMW. Currently, female artist Cao Fei from China and American John Baldessari are creating the next two vehicles for the BMW Art Car Collection. Besides co-initiatives, such as BMW Tate Live, the BMW Art Journey and the “Opera for All” concerts in Berlin, Munich and London, the company also partners with leading museums and art fairs as well as orchestras and opera houses around the world. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all its cultural activities – as this initiative is as essential for producing groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business.

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About Art Basel

Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world's premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, as reflected in its participating galleries, the artworks presented, and the parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition.

In recent years, Art Basel’s art-world engagement has expanded beyond art fairs. In 2014, Art Basel launched its Crowdfunding Initiative, in collaboration with Kickstarter, which has helped catalyzed much-needed support for outstanding non-commercial art projects worldwide and has helped pledge over $1.2 million to creative projects all over the world. For Art Basel Cities, launched in 2016, Art Basel will work with select partner cities to develop vibrant and content-driven programs specific to the individual city. Connecting them to the global art world through Art Basel's expertise and network, Art Basel Cities supports its partner cities in developing their unique cultural landscape. The first city Art Basel is partnering with for Art Basel Cities is Buenos Aires. For further information please visit artbasel.com. 

The BMW Group

With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries. 

In 2015, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.247 million cars and nearly 137,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2015 was approximately € 9.22 billion on revenues amounting to € 92.18 billion. As of 31 December 2015, the BMW Group had a workforce of 122,244 employees. 

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. 

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