BMW Z4 proves to be a work of art.
Over the years the BMW art Car series has invited some of the world's leading artists to paint a succession of cars.
And few have declined the opportunity. Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Ernst Fuchs, David Hockney and Australia's own Ken Done have all taken up the brush and palette to be part of the Art Cars collection.
When South African artist Robin Rhode was invited to join the elite collection he decided to bring something very different to the table.
"For all the other artists the car was the canvas," BMW Australia's general manager of marketing, Tom Noble, said. "For the new Z4 Rhode decided to use the car as the brush."
The result is a vast canvas almost the size of a football field on which a driver under strict choreography instructions from Rhode has swirled and spun their way through a storm of vibrant primary colours to produce An Expression of Joy.
Organising the artwork was a nightmare of practical logistics with each colour applied by a fresh set of tyres from a paint reservoir mounted to the rear axle and remotely activated by the artist as the car performed its motorised ballet on the canvas.
To record the moment Rhode was joined by young British director Jake Scott — son of highly-acclaimed director Sir Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator and the new Robin Hood film).
Rhode and Scott completed the one-take, no-repeat performance in just 12 hours capturing both the essence of the art and one of the most complex and artistic television commercial campaigns BMW has ever planned. To make sure nothing was missed during the performance Scott used 45 simultaneous cameras.
