BMW brought 16 of its 17 “art cars” to London recently, as part of the cultural festival that accompanies the Olympic games. The cars have gone now, but while they were on show I was lucky enough to pay them a visit.

The art cars are a truly unique collection of BMW vehicles, each decorated by a different artist. The first dates from 1975, the most recent from 2010, and together they present a dazzling variety of styles.

The 16 cars were arranged over several floors of a multi-storey car park in London’s fashionable Shoreditch. The area is, appropriately, plastered in ambitious graffiti of varying levels of success.

Incidentally the missing 17th art car was absent due to the challenging nature of its composition. Olaf Eliasson’s 2007 work, based around a BMW hydrogen-fuelled concept car, is mostly composed of carved ice – making it tricky to display in a tall building open to summer breezes.

Since these are art cars, you’ll have to forgive me for attempting arty photos. Here are my efforts at recording the scene:

3.0 CSL
Alexander Calder
1975

3.0 CSL
Frank Stella
1976

320 Group 5 race car
Roy Lichtenstein
1977

M1 Group 4 race car
Andy Warhol
1979

635 CSi
Ernst Fuchs
1982

635 CSi
Robert Rauschenberg
1986

M3 Group A race car
Michael Jagamara Nelson
1989

M3 Group A race car
Ken Done
1989

535i
Matazo Kayama
1990

730i
César Manrique
1990

Z1
A. R. Penck
1991

525i
Esther Mahlangu
1991

3-Series Touring Car prototype
Sandro Chia
1992

850 CSi
David Hockney
1995

V12 LMR race car
Jenny Holzer
1999

M3 GT2
Jeff Koons
2010