BMW Art Cars at LACMA

February 14, 2009 at 6:49 pm in Art

BMW Art Car by Roy Lichtenstein

The BMW Art Cars exhibit opened at LACMA on Thursday on the new outdoor Grand Entrance plaza, a free-admission area of the museum. The cars will only be on view for two weeks, until February 24th, so you have to move quickly if you want to see them.

Conceived in 1975 by French racecar driver Hervé Poulain, the list of artists who used the cars as canvases reads like a who’s who of contemporary art. In addition to the four now at LACMA by Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein, cars have been painted by twelve other artists, including Alexander Calder, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, A. R. Penck and Sandro Chia.

BMW and an international panel of judges will soon announce their choice for the 17th artist to participate.

On a side note, there were a few people looking at the Art Cars today, but going into the Broad building to see the enormous, engrossing Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures exhibit, we found large crowds taking it in. Whether it was an economic Valentine’s Day date for hundreds or a love of art, or both, it was an encouraging sign to see so many spectators at the financially troubled museum.

Click through for more Art Car photos.