As we draw closer to the end of 2016, the celebrations BMW has put in place to mark its 100th anniversary will stop altogether. Fans of the Bavarian brand have been spoiled this year, with futuristic, visionary concepts and tributes paid to iconic cars from its past. However, before 2017 rolls in, the guys from BMW Romania will be doing their own thing to honor the legacy of the BMW brand.
Starting from an idea thrown in the mix during one of the many brainstorming meetings held at their office, the local representatives of the brand decided to put together an ambitious and yet unique project in the world. Their concept was to create a collection of 100 paintings of iconic photos from BMW’s motorsport history and showcase them to the world with three goals in their mind.
First of all, those who haven’t already fallen in love with the blue and white roundel, would have a chance to get themselves acquainted with BMW’s history and therefore have a better idea as to what the roundel stands for. Those who already liked the Bavarian company’s history would have their memories refreshed while last, but not least, this whole exercise would celebrate the 100th anniversary of the brand once again.
Therefore, an artist was needed, one that would be able to transform the 100 iconic pictures picked by the PR people from BMW into works of art. Their choice was unconventional, to put it mildly. BMW knew they would need a man that not only shared a deep innate love for everything related to the automotive segment, but who could also bring his own special twist into the mix.
Enter stage: Adrian Mitu. You may not know his name but the Romanian painter has risen to a certain amount of celebrity due to his unconventional way of painting; he’s made a name for himself using coffee as his main coloring material.
“It’s a special feeling to be able to take a simple sheet of paper and draw on it so that the beholder wants to reach in and grab the object in the painting, as if it was truly there,” Mitu says.
His love of cars and painting breathed into him from a young age. His father was a true car nut and he consequently fell in love with the four-wheeled products. When Adrian was a teenager, his father built his own car in his backyard, from scratch, just like a kit car. It was back then when the artist discovered car drawings and began sketching.
As faith would have it, he lived near an art school where he perfected his art of drawing. Move forward several years, and now he’s working with BMW to bring us 100 paintings in 30 days.
He set out to draw pictures from BMW’s 100-year history on November 7th and over the next 30 days his goal was to complete the 100 pictures so that they can be showed in a special exhibition for fans and curious bystanders at the same time. Furthermore, a choice was made that he would do so while surrounded by people and BMW models altogether, in one of the biggest shopping malls in Europe at the moment.
The result is absolutely impressive, as you can see from the photo gallery below. You’ll be able to recognize iconic moments in BMW’s history, such as the 3.0 CSL literally flying on the Nurburgring, for example, in the hands of Hans Joachim Stuck. Other interesting moments have also been immortalized in coffee, such as the first time the BMW 328 won the Mille Miglia or the BMW 507 Roadster Elvis used to own, after being painted red. All of them and more can be checked out in the gallery below or at the ParkLake Mall in Bucharest, Romania, if you happen to travel there between December 8 – 11.
