BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car

Continuing up until 2010, the premise of the BMW Art Car project revolved around extending an invite to an artist every year to decorate the exterior of one of BMW’s race cars, effectively turning the vehicle into a canvas. A long line of influential artists have since participated in the event, including the likes of David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol. However, Alexander Calder‘s 1975 rendition of the BMW 3.0 CSL holds a special place, namely because it was the very first installment in the series. Known for his seminal “kinetic” sculptures, Calder’s style translates into the 2D plane here with bold and dynamic geometric color blocking of red, yellow and blue. While the original was featured in numerous exhibitions, it was never driven — the car depicted in these photos by Peter Aylward are of an exact replica, with over 1000 hours spent on the bodywork before going to the paint shop. For more of Aylward’s work, head over to his Behance.