Those Krauts! The art of automobiles

0-15 minutes of fame isn't quite what Warhol famously said back in the 80s, but my interpretation is fueled (ok, no more puns) by the current exhibition at Los Angeles' County Museum of Art, more affectionately known as LACMA.

The exhibition of BMW Art Cars is only on display for 12 days before heading off to New York and Mexico. The four cars, rarely seen outside of BMW's Munich museum in Germany, are designed by Roy Lichtenstein (1977 Group 5 320i with its wild wing and body work), Robert Rauschenberg (1986 6-series was not a race car so seems more restrained than the other Art Cars), Frank Stella (graph-paper 3.0 CSL), and Andy Warhol (1979 Group 4 M1 that Warhol painted with a brush). All three race cars competed at Le Mans with their new paint jobs.

As part of the exhibition are rare, behind-the-scenes footage of the four cars including a youthful-looking Warhol working on his BMW and Robert Rauschenberg sharing his inspiration and influence.


BMW Art Car By Andy Warhol

Who got the keys to my Bimmer? Not shown on this tour are the most recent additions to the BMW Art Car program which currently has 16 cars including David Hockney (1995), Jenny Holzer (1999), and Olafur Eliasson (2007) who was the man behind the controversial waterfalls installation in New York in 2008.

Surprisingly, the BMW Art Car Project was originally dreamt up in the 1970s by a Frenchman. Hervé Poulain was a racing driver who in 1975 commissioned American artist Alexander Calder to paint his BMW racing car. Since then both racing and production BMWs have been given the priceless touch by leading artists of their generation, all chosen by an international panel.

Go test drive now BMW Art Cars can be seen on display at the L.A. County Museum of Art BP Grand Entrance through February 24, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., (323) 857-6151.