BMW i8 ‘Futurism Edition’ Should Be on Display at The Louvre

BOLD RIDE

Copyright © 2016 Bold Ride LLC.

 

Posted by Andrew T. Maness 

 

                               

                             

The BMW i8 is hardly a car that struggles to attract attention. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them end up being white or grey. And while the German vision of the future is undoubtedly sleek, I’d like to see a touch of color added to their monochromatic world.

 

Who better to do that than one Italian tuning shop? The country is bursting with color, synonymous with great art, and then there’s the matter of sprezzatura, which they not only organically cultivated, but eventually defined as well. To be cool in Italy is to be comfortable in your own skin, and when I look at this i8, that’s what I see.

BMW Italy and GIC (Garage Italia Customs) chose Giacomo Balla’s 1909 painting “Street Light” as the inspiration for this one-off body wrap. And besides looking phenomenal from top to bottom, the use of the painting works on number of different levels. The Italian painter worked in the futurist style, and frequently experimented with motion in this artwork, so there’s a strong thematic connection to the i8.

On top of that, this particular painting depicted a street lamp powered by electricity in a time when gas lamps were still the norm. I don’t think I need to tell you how that subject matter relates to the i8.

The i8 Futurism Edition isn’t an official BMW Art Car, but it does have a lot in common with the 17 vehicles in the official collection, namely that the car was modified for the sake of art. BMW supplied the i8, and GIC handled the application of film to the i8′s body, but neither will directly profit from this project.

 It was done because it seemed the most appropriate way to commemorate the anniversary of BMW in Italy without being too heavy handed.

This i8 will keep people talking about the future of design and transportation, and isn’t that the purpose of art? To get a dialogue going and get people thinking in a way that they previously wouldn’t have?