John Baldessari’s “Rolling Sculpture” BMW Art Car is to prove itself more than just another over-priced artwork, on the race track of Rolex 24 at DAYTONA, on January 28 and 29, 2017.
The Art Car produced by BMW is the 19th to be commissioned by the auto-manufacturers. John Baldessari is a living legend of the LA art scene. His design for the paintwork on the car drew on his famous artistic trademarks. Designing the car creates 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.
“The BMW Art Car is definitely a typical Baldessari and the fastest artwork I ever created!” – John Baldessari
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. 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 car made its world premiere at Art Basel in Miami Beach in December 2016. Baldessari is celebrated as 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. 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.
“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