• by Karl Greenberg , March 20, 2009

BMW is sponsoring a public art exhibition on Wednesday at Grand Central Terminal in New York. This time, the art is BMW cars that have been painted upon by the likes of Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg.

A second part of the exhibit is a project by Robin Rhode, who used the new Z4 roadster mounted with paint dispensers to create a painting the size of a football field. A 40-foot-by-30-foot section will also be shown.

The show is free to the public through April 6 all day in the terminal's Vanderbilt Hall.

BMW began having painters use their cars as canvases in 1975. The company says 16 artists have designed Bimmers, and the cars have been shown at venues like the Louvre in Paris and the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.

The display will include video footage of four of the cars: one shows Warhol painting his, and Stella and Rauschenberg talking about what inspired and influenced them when they painted the BMWs given to them to make into rolling art.

The canvas project by Rhode will include video of him creating the canvas from the top of a tower, controlling the car with a remote device. The footage will be displayed on a hi-def 16-foot-by-9-foot screen. Also, starting on Tuesday, visitors to BMWUSA.com can view a "making of" clip that shows the collaboration between Rhode and videographer Jake Scott.

According to BMW, the "BMW Art Car" program was begun by French racecar driver Herve Poulain. The most recent contributors are David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, and Olafur Eliasson. The artists are chosen by a panel of international judges, per the company.

Sales of BMW brand vehicles in the U.S. decreased 37.5% last month for a total of 12,979 compared to 20,775 reported in the same month a year ago. The company says sales have been affected by ramping up of the new 7-Series--which launched this month--and of the Z4, which launches in May.

The company reported that through February, year-to-date BMW brand sales were down 28.5%, to 25,211 vehicles compared to 35,250 vehicles sold in the same period a year ago.