The looming brutalism of Shoreditch’s Great Eastern Street Car Park has welcomed the likes of Paddy Considine, Colin Firth and Keira Knightley as its bleak urban aesthetic has served as a backdrop to numerous dramas and thrillers, but perhaps its most fascinating guests are those that occupy its floors at present. Arriving for a fleeting visit – ART DRIVE!, which is part of the London 2012 Festival and presented by the ICA, ends at 9pm, 4th August – BMW’s famous collection of ‘art cars’ have found their way to East London, the first time they’ve been shown in the UK.
Having been inviting the art world’s crème de la crème to go wild on their most prestigious models since 1975 – the likes of Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Jeff Koons all feature – the German manufacturer’s commitment to contemporary art is admirable, this is no half-arsed ‘get creatives involved’ PR shiz; the BMW Art Car Collection is an assemblage of utterly individual, genuine works of art by many of the planet’s most in-demand artists.
Catch it while you can, like the works of art themselves, this exhibition is moving on fast…
BMW 850CSI
David Hockney (1995)
Photo © Andy Keate
BMW M1
Andy Warhol (1979)
Photo © Chris Lee, Getty Images
BMW Z1
A.R. Penck (1991)
Photo © Chris Lee, Getty Images
BMW M3 GT2
Jeff Koons (2010)
Photo © Chris Lee, Getty Images
BMW M3 GT2
Jeff Koons (2010)
Photo © Andy Keate
BMW 850CSI
David Hockney (1995)
Photo © Andy Keate
BMW 320i
Roy Lichtenstein (1977)
Photo © Chris Lee, Getty Images
BMW 850CSI
David Hockney (1995)
Photo © Chris Lee, Getty Images
BMW 635CSI
Ernst Fuchs (1982)
Photo © Chris Lee, Getty Images
BMW M1
Andy Warhol (1979)
Photo © Chris Lee, Getty Images
BMW M1
Andy Warhol (1979)
