While most of the U.S. was under the grip of an massive winter storm, the twelfth annual Art Basel in Miami Beach art fair drew record crowds, with 75,000 attendees viewing and purchasing major works of art from over 250 galleries worldwide. Among them were VIP guests, celebrities, art advisors, international gallery owners, and other A-listers, including some of the represented artists. Jeff Koons was on hand with supermodel Karolína Kurková for the official North American premiere of his rolling canvas, the BMW M3 GT2 Art Car—which raced in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its Le Mans entry number—79—paid homage to the 1979 Andy Warhol BMW M1 Art Car, which BMW had on display in the prestigious VIP collectors’ lounge.
BMW has been a partner of Art Basel Miami Beach for a number of years, but during the last two years, with the presence of BMW’s iconic Art Cars, that involvement has gone far beyond merely providing the official VIP shuttle fleet. The fleet was there in 2013, of course; this year’s fleet included five i3s along with the forty 7 Series vehicles—with additional i3s available at multiple venues for VIP test drives.
While the Warhol M1 was nestled inside the convention center, the Koons M3 GT2 was displayed directly across the street, in the lush Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, sheltered from the elements in an exquisite outdoor glass display case.
In a related story, last month turned out to be a historic month in art auctions with Andy Warhol’s Silver Car Crash fetching $105,000,000—and Jeff Koons’ Orange Balloon Dog going for $58,000,000, setting a record for the most expensive work sold by a living artist. But those numbers have no meaning when it comes to the iconic BMW Art Cars; regardless of the monetary milestones of the artists, living or dead, the Art Cars are not for sale at any price.—Jon van Woerden
