John Baldessari to create next BMW Art Car, aged 84

BMW has announced that John Baldessari and Chinese artist Cao Fei will each design an M6 GT3 for the 40th anniversary of its Art Car series. Both were selected by a jury of museum directors and curators, including the Guggenheim and Tate Modern, and at 84, Baldsessari is the oldest artist represented in the collection, which includes cars by David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Olafur Eliasson, and Jeff Koons. Cao Fei also happens to be the youngest. The newly-designed vehicles will be revealed in 2017, when they will be put to the test on the racetrack.

In a statement, Baldessari said: “Creating art that exists outside of a museum is important to me, and should be a goal for all artists. This will definitely be my fastest artwork yet.”

The Art Car series has been running since 1975 when French race car driver Hervé Poulain asked sculptor Alexander Calder to design a car. You can see all previous BMW Art Cars here.