Here’s How PUMA and BMW’s Pop-Art Workshop Became a Forum for Creative Expression
With guests putting their own spin on Roy Lichtenstein’s cult style.
Last week, PUMA unveiled its latest capsule collection with BMW. A playful line-up of jackets, jerseys, and classic suede sneakers, the range revisited Roy Lichtenstein’s renowned 320i Turbo Art Car with kinetic prints and vibrant color palettes reminiscent of his dynamic livery design. Ahead of the highly-anticipated launch, the brands connected with a cohort of creatives to celebrate the new capsule as well the artist’s legacy through a day of workshops.
Headed by Simone Cihlar — who is known for her multi-dimensional posters for Anderson Paak, Tom Misch, and other artists — Berlin-based art collective Veryes teamed up with PUMA and BMW to organize a series of activities for the event. Playing on their signature layered style, they put together screen-printing workshops that incorporated Lichtenstein’s signature motifs with contemporary elements on pre-cut templates.
“Our aim was to craft a visual language that integrates the theme of racing and reflected the identity of both brands,” shares Moritz Lösel, who led the workshop on-site, as he reflects on the creative process. “For instance, we employed classic racing patterns, such as those from the starting flag, with the enlarged Benday dots and modified them using an AI graphic system to generate a variety of patterns.”
Taking these screen templates to Zirka Space in Munich, a multi-purpose venue designed specifically for productions and workshops, Veryes collective kick-started the day of art with guests Shaquille-Aaron Keith, Gully Guy Leo, Daniela Buck, and others from across Europe. The space was set out to create an inspiring atmosphere with the Roy Lichtenstein Art Car at the center as well as pieces from the collection hung on rails around the side. As the creatives mixed and matched patterns with different colors on their canvases, they drew references from the kinetic designs of the Art Car to create their own interpretations of the celebrated masterpiece.
After the workshop, Buck shared with Hypebeast, “The screen printing workshop was definitely a highlight. To be in the presence of the legendary Art Car whilst creating my own art using similar techniques was an amazing experience.” As a self-proclaimed sneakerhead, the creative also shares her fascination with the rise of motorsport in fashion and footwear saying, “Recently, cars have been influencing designs, aesthetics, and cultural trends. I love that fashion is a wearable and accessible form of expression where designers can translate these themes into clothing and we can showcase them in our everyday lives.”
DJ, model and Foundation FM breakfast radio show host Gully Guy Leo also took part in PUMA and BMW’s pop-art workshop. “We got given different canvases and we were allowed to just build up our own pieces of art,” Leo said of the process. “I ended up going for something more simple which was just one screen print. It was fun to just be able to mess around with something that we’d never done before and create our own little masterpiece.” And as a fashion connoisseur, he added, “My favorite piece from the collection would probably be the jacket. I am a very loud kind of guy, I like going for the main staple piece in any collection. I will just do my classic with it really, I liked matching the jacket and hat together, they went very well together.”
A fixture in the creative world, Leo also expanded on the intersection of art, auto, and fashion, saying, “I think because cars are such big canvases, it gives artists a whole different perspective and they can do what they want really because with art anything is a canvas and it’s really interesting to see that artists are now using cars to display their art.”
Take a closer look at what went down at the event above. To shop the new PUMA x BMW M Motorsport capsule collection, head to the brand’s website.
