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PressClub USA · Article.
BMW ART CAR DISPLAYED IN FIRST COMPLETE RETROSPECTIVE OF ROY LICHTENSTEIN SCULPTURE
Fri May 17 12:00:00 CET 99 Press Release
The BMW Art Car created by Roy Lichtenstein will be on display in the nation's capital this summer as part of a retrospective of the artist's sculpture on exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art from June 5 to Sept. 30, 1999.
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Martha McKinley
BMW Group
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Author.
Martha McKinley
BMW Group
The BMW Art Car created by Roy Lichtenstein will be on display in the nation's
capital this summer as part of a retrospective of the artist's sculpture on
exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art from June 5 to Sept. 30, 1999.
Entitled Roy Lichtenstein: Sculpture and Drawings, it features the artist's
sculpture, his related drawings, models and sketchbooks and is the first
exhibition of its kind.
In 1977, Roy Lichtenstein turned a BMW 320i into a piece of his art which was
driven at the prestigious Le Mans 24-hour race in France by Frenchmen Herve
Poulain and Marcel Mignot, who finished 9th overall and first in class.
When Lichtenstein was drafting his Art Car, he spent a long time thinking about
all the things that happens to a car. The result of this critical examination
of the car is an amazing blend of aerodynamic qualities on the one hand and
artistic skill on the other.
When Lichtenstein created the third BMW Art Car, he said he used "painted
lines as a road, pointing the way for the car. The design also shows the
scenery as it passes by. Even the sky and sunlight are to been seen....you
could list all the things a car experiences - the only difference is that this
car mirrors all these things even before it takes to the road."
Taking a closer look, the car's design casts a picture of passing scenery in
which both the car and it's movement are one single entity. And although
Lichtenstein's comic art was already a thing of the past by then, his Art Car
is clearly influenced by it: the long-drawn colored strips act as "speedlines"
- a feature used in comics to suggest speed. Even the oversized dots used by
Lichtenstein, the "Benday dots", are reminiscent of his famous comic-strip
pictures.
The harmony achieved between predetermined aerodynamic features and free
composition is pure Lichtenstein. It is an expression of his artistic credo:
art must be an element of everyday life - its themes and inspiration must come
from the lives of ordinary people.
Background on the BMW Art Car Program
Roy Lichtenstein was the third artist to join the BMW Art Car Collection. He
was followed by Andy Warhol, 1979; Ernst Fuchs, 1982; Robert Rauschenberg,
1986; Ken Done, 1989; Michael Jagamara Nelson, 1989; Matazo Kayama, 1990; Cesar
Manrique, 1990; A.R. Penck, 1991; Esther Mahlangu, 1991; Sandro Chia, 1992 and
David Hockney, 1995. Alexander Calder created the first Art Car in 1975
followed by Frank Stella in 1976.
The concept of the BMW Art Car was conceived in 1975, the year that French
auctioneer and race driver Herve Poulain first entered Le Mans. Searching for
a link between art and motorsports, he asked his friend Alexander Calder, to
commission a rolling canvas on the BMW 3.0 CSL he would race.
Background on the Exhibit
Though best known as a painter, American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein also
devoted his artistic career to creating sculptural, three-dimensional objects.
This compelling new exhibition includes 100 sculptures and three-dimensional
maquettes or models, the earliest of which are figural carvings and assemblages
dating from the mid-1940s and 1950s, and latest of which is his last personally
finished sculpture: the monumentalHouse II, seen only at the Venice Biennale in
1997.
Various other large Lichtenstein sculpture projects are included in the
Corcoran exhibition. These range from a 32-foot-high Brushstroke Group
sculpture of 1988 to the 12 foot-high Brushstroke Nude (1993), a towering,
colorfully painted cast aluminum sculpture. An additional 103 works on paper
(collages, sketches and sketchbooks) are also presented, many of which have
never been previously exhibited.
Background on the Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran, a privately funded institution, was founded in 1869 as
Washington's first museum of art. It is known internationally for its
distinguished collection of historical and modern American art as well as
European painting, sculpture and decorative arts. The Corcoran School of Art is
Washington's only 4-year college of art and design. The School's Open Program,
which offers classes for children and adults,
draws more than 3,000 participants each year. The Corcoran Gallery of Art is
located at New York Avenue and 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC, and is open
every day, except Tuesday, 10 am - 5 pm, and until 9 pm on Thursdays. The
Corcoran is closed every Tuesday. The public information line is (202)
639-1700. The Corcoran Web site address is www.corcoran.org.
BMW entered the North American market in 1975. Since then, the company has
grown to include marketing, sales and financial service organizations in the
United States and Canada; a South Carolina manufacturing operation; a design
firm in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley; and various other
BMW operations throughout the U.S. and Canada. BMW is represented in North
America through a network of more than 375 automobile and 190 motorcycle
retailers in the United States and Canada. BMW US Holding Corp., the group's
North American headquarters, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.