The art project BMW Art Car is first in a series of long-term collaborations between BMW Group Slovenia and Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, followed by the exhibition Wheel - 5,200 years.

BMW Art Car Collection
Since 1975, prominent artists from throughout the world have designed BMW automobiles of their times, all making extremely different artistic statements. The seventeen exhibits created for the Art Car Collection until now include works by well-known artists: Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Ernst Fuchs, Robert Rauschenberg, Michael Jagamara Nelson, Ken Done, Matazo Kayama, César Manrique, A.R. Penck, Esther Mahlangu, Sandro Chia, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Olafur Eliasson and Jeff Koons.. The Art Cars reflect the cultural and historical development of art, design, and technology. BMW Art Cars are acknowledged by numerous museums and galleries throughout the world – by the Louvre in Paris, the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao – to name just a few.

The BMW Art Car by Michael Jagamara Nelson, 1989
  “A car is a landscape as it would be seen from a plane – I have included water, the kangaroo and the opossum.” Michael Jagamara Nelson
After seven days of hard and meticulous work, the Australian artist Michael Jagamara Nelson had transformed the black BMW M3 into a masterpiece of Papunya art. However, the geometric shapes only appear to be abstract. To the expert they reveal kangaroos or emus. Papunya paintings embody religious myths (“Dreaming”) passed on for thousands of years by generations of Aborigines in the form of rock and cave paintings. They constitute their cultural roots and are a source of inspiration for the future.
The artist, who was born in Pikili, Australia, in 1949, is a member of the Warlpiri tribe and grew up in the Aborigine tradition. He learnt the ancient painting techniques used by his ancestors from his grandfather and developed a new style based on them. Since the mid-eighties Nelson has been considered the leading representative of the Papunya-Tula movement. His outstanding work includes a large mosaic, which stands in front of the Australian parliament building in Canberra, and an impressive looking wall in the foyer of the Sydney Opera House.

www.bmw-artcartour.com.