Jeff Koons BMW Art Car unveiled at last in Paris
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 9:26AM 
After months of anticipation, BMW and Jeff Koons finally unveiled the latest in the Art Car series in Paris, in the same venue where Roy Lichtenstein unveiled his Art Car many years ago. I haven't even read any reactions about this new car on the internet yet, but here's mine: I like it! Maybe it isn't so intellectually esoteric as Jenny Holzer's race car or Olafur Eliasson's inexplicable ice sculpture. But as far as continuing the tradition started by Calder, Lichtenstein, Stella, and Warhol, Koons has clearly picked up where they left off. And he has done so in a way that is up to date and, frankly rather fetching to look at. I think the car is going to look really amazing as it blows past the spectators (and the competition?) on the Mulsanne Straight. Though viewers may not have to scratch their heads and ponder what it means, they'll find the chopped streaks of color exciting and dynamic, and I just think that's great. At night, the black car will recede and the colored stripes will leap out at the viewer like a neon comet! In this day of excessive sponsorship and car liveries that lack imagination or beauty, it is so refreshing to see a racing car that was painted with goal of expressing speed and being visually exciting. If that was his sole goal, Koons has acheived it well. I can't wait to see night photos of the car. I hope they put some irridescence in the printed colors so that it will reflect camera flashes.
If you want to read my prior article analyzing Andy Warhol's BMW M1 Art Car, click HERE.
Art Car, BMW, Jeff Koons, Le Mans, M3 in Miscellaneous
Reader Comments (4)
that unveiling has Jeff hearts Led Zeppelin written all over it!
I have never liked Koons' work and have found his "spin" paintings particularly contemptible. HOWEVER, he has clearly taken a version of his "spin" painting motif and adapted it for a very effective BMW art car. I think you're right that it might look pretty sensational at speed too. My previous favorite among the BMW art cars was the Lichtenstein. It combined deft humor with apt content.
Too bad that small mishaps, none of them the fault of car or driver, early in the race kept us from watching this pretty car at speed after dark.
Now, two weeks later, I remember that the spin paintings I was thinking of in relation to this car are not by Jeff Koons at all, but by Damien Hirst. Never mind.