World renowned American artist Jeff Koons along with supermodel Karolína Kurková presented the North American debut of Koons’ famous BMW Art Car, the M3 GT2 race car, on the 4th December at the opening day of Art Basel in Miami Beach. The M3 GT2 painted by Jeff Koons is the 17th and the most recent car to join the collection of BMW Art Cars project. The art car with multicolored striations on the bodywork was first reviled back in 2010 in Paris a week before it took part in the 24 hours Le Mans race. The BMW Art Car Collection started when French racing driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain invited his friend Alexander Calder to design his BMW Le Mans 24-hour race car in 1975 and so the BMW Art Car was born. Since then some of the greatest names in contemporary art have been added to the collection creating a wide range of artistic interpretations.
“I always enjoyed the Art Cars – Warhol’s Car, Roy Lichtenstein’s car, Stella’s, Calder’s – all the cars have always been fantastic. I just wanted to participate. The art world is like a family and I wanted to also be involved in this dialogue of designing an Art Car. Today I’m proud that this car is there alongside their work too,” Koons said at the event. The BMW Art Car will remain on display at Miami Beach Botanical Garden until finale of the fair on December 8, 2013. Jeff Koons gave a similar multicolored artistic treatment to a Aston Martin DBS back in 2010 and was recently in the news for his orange Balloon Dog sculpture that fetched a record breaking hammer price of $58,405,000 at a Christie’s New York auction.
[BMW]
