BMW | Art Car
BMW Art Car Illustration
As a young auctioneer and racing driver, Hervé Poulain wanted to somehow unite his twin passions – art and speed. He suggested to a constructor that he should be given a car that he could have decorated by an eminent contemporary artist, with the idea of making it an Art Car. It was Jochen Neerpasch, founder of BMW Motorsport, who supported him in this innovative project – where art and industry would co-exist.
Calder and Hervé Poulain
Hervé Poulain turned to Alexander Calder to create the first Art Car. After buying a scale model of a 3.0 CSL from a toy shop, Hervé set off for Saché in the Touraine region, where the artist could often be found. At the end of lunch, Calder took a blank piece of paper and wrote out his commitment for Neerpasch – ‘OK to paint the car of Poulain and his colts regards to everyone’ (the French word ‘Poulain’ means ‘colt’ in English). From these few words, the first Art Car was born. During the subsequent race, the car was not only a roaring success with spectators, but also with professionals such as Leo Castelli and Arman, who introduced artists to Hervé Poulain. – Artcurial
I took my time to create this from multiple photos and all told it was 40-50 hours of work. Each highlight and each object you see on the car is a resizable, reshapeable, vector. I truly love this series of BMW cars. The 3.0 CS and the 3.0 CSL were some of the best designs that BMW has ever created. The BMW Art Cars are truly amazing and I do have another Art Car, that being the Cesar McLaren F1 GTR #05R that is in the McLaren F1 GTR section of this site. I have the Frank Stella 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL version on the drawing board. More to come!