Photographer, Simon Puschmann, Performance artist Robin Rhode, Filmmaker Jake Scott and writer Steffan Heuer teamed up to document the world premiere of the new BMW Z4.
South African performance artist Robin Rhode came up with a remarkable scenario transforming the roadster into a 300hp paintbrush. "As if triggered by the car's raid entrance, 30 lighting balloons snap on to reveal a spectacular stage set: the roadster, with computer - controlled spray nozzles at each wheel, is driving over a 2,000 square-metre fireboard base. This must be one of the most unusuall paintbush-and-canvas combinations ever employed by an artist. The hands on the wheel of the BMW Z4 belong to a stunt driver, but the creative control is firmly in the hands of pioneering performance artist Robin Rhode", Steffan Heuer writes in his article 'One artist, five colours and the new Z4'.
Photographer, Simon Puschmann documented the process using a 6 x Hasselblad H3D2 and 4 x Canon EOS1 Mark III DS. . The Canons were installed under the roof of the "studio" and equipped with 20mm wideangle lenses each. The images were then stitched to produce the panorama that Simon attached.
5 of the 6 Hasselblads were installed at 5 different spots all around the "canvas". Some high up on scaffolding, low, near the ground. Some shot using slow shutter speeds while others used short exposure times to generate different looking images
throughout the course of the day.
The sixth Hasselblad Simon handheld, documentary-style.
The process was also documented by filmmaker, Jake Scott, for a series of BMW commercials.
In his article, Steffan Heuer (steffan.heuer@gmail.com) 'One artist, five colours and the new Z4' continues to describe the process:
"The tall, slim 32 year old South African is standing on an elevated platform with a bird's eye view of events, holding one of those remote control devices for model aircraft. Right now he's busy putting down lines of deep blue paint, tyre track by tyre track, on his gigantic canvas. With the lever on the left he governs the flow of paint, while the right hand joystick switches the nozzles at the front and rear on and off. 20 minutes later, the six litre canister of paint in the boot is empty and film director Jake Scott, sharing the platform with Rhode, orders a Technicolor splash-and-go pit stop. Together, the two of them have just one shot at getting this remarkable artwork completed and its creation captured on film...."We're going to attempt the impossible," Scott told his team during the previous evening's briefing. "We're going to create a work of art and commercial for a new car at one and the same time."
To see more amazing photographs, visit Simon Puschmann's Altpick page and his personal website. Click on links below.
