First design studies for Julie Mehretu's BMW Art Car revealed

Julie Mehretu presents her first design studies for the 20th BMW Art Car.

For this project, the internationally renowned artist combines her artistic work with a personal enthusiasm for automotive design and speed. She translates dynamism into form and applies one of her monumental motifs from a two-dimensional picture plane onto a three-dimensional industrially designed object.

In the course of this creative process, the BMW M Hybrid V8 racing car prototype becomes the canvas of Julie’s multi-layered art and the next addition to the legendary BMW Art Car Collection. Just as Roy Lichtenstein's (1977) and Jeff Koons' (2010) ‘rolling sculptures’, the 20th BMW Art Car will also celebrate its official world premiere at the Centre Pompidou in Paris on May 21, before competing with starting number 20 a few weeks later in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15/16, 2024.

On the design process of the 20th BMW Art Car, she said: "It wasn't until after going to the 24 Hours race in Daytona last year that the idea of how to approach the BMW Art Car really crystallised.

“I was thinking about Frank Stella's grid and how this could also be a shout-out to former BMW Art Car artists. And I kept thinking of this painting in my studio that I had just finished, and the model of the Art Car was in my studio and I thought maybe we can try to have the car move through this painting."

For the first time, Julie Mehretu (pic) is working with BMW on a three-dimensional format. The interplay of the surfaces and geometry of the vehicle design creates a remix of elements of her painting and opens up new perspectives for the artist in her process.