BMW lets form cover function for Le Mans

Jeff Koons' vibrant art will be the latest to grace BMW's Le Man racer. Photo / Supplied

BMW has released the design for its latest Art Car - a Jeff Koons design that's eye-wateringly intense. The exploding rainbow of colour was inspired by Christmas lights, the artist says, with his studio using computer programs to model the way light bends.

Koons' place in the Art Car series was announced in February, but the New York artist said he first aspired to join the select band who've contributed Art Cars back in 2003.

The Art Car concept originated in 1975 with French racing driver Herve Poulain, who commissioned American artist Alexander Calder to paint his racing car.

That inspired BMW to establish its Art Car collection, mainly using racing cars as a canvas - some immortalised on track at the 24-hour Le Mans race.

Calder's artwork was a 3.0-litre CSL painted in sweeping arcs of colour, which dropped out of its Le Mans race with a mechanical problem after seven hours.

Andy Warhol's 1979 M1 Group 4 Racing canvas showed where his brush had travelled. Forget creating a small-scale design and getting assistants to complete it; Warhol designed as he went, wielding a vibrant brush he hoped would create a vivid depiction of speed. "If a car is really fast, all contours and colours will become blurred," he said.

It must have worked - his car took sixth overall and second in class at its Le Mans outing.

As for David Hockney's 1995 850 CSi, forget swimming pools and palm trees - he decided to show the car's interior on its skin, with a stylised intake manifold, driver, and even a pet Dachshund depicted in the rear seat, all intermingled with the abstract landscape through which they pass.

The latest Art Car - a BMW M3 GT2 - will debut in the skin at the Pompidou Centre, Paris, on June 1 before also heading to Le Mans, where it will be raced by British driver Andy Priaulx.