Artist Katrin Westman wins BMW Art Commission 2024
Westman Stripes BMW’s VIP–cars for 2024’s edition of Market Art Fair
For the third consecutive year, Market Art Fair partnered with BMW, and for the second time, a Nordic artist was selected as the winner of the BMW Art Commission 2024. For 2024’s edition year, Swedish artist Katrin Westman (GSA Gallery, SE) was chosen for her artwork Wetland, which was prominently featured during the fair. Johanna Kriisa, Managing Director of BMW Sweden, said at the time:
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Market Art Fair for the second year in such a playful and creative way. It’s essential for us to showcase the boundless creativity of Nordic artists.”
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Photo by Oskar Omne
BMW, which for over 50 years has been deeply committed to the arts globally, together with Market Art Fair, chose Westman for her sensual and abstract artistry that is inspired by the Baroque era and revolves around a dramatic and rich color palette. In her studio, Westman keeps pictures of plants and human bodies that inspire her and that she uses as models. Wetland, with its intense yet subdued color scheme, was painted in summertime and is inspired by water lilies and other life found in bodies of water.
How did you react when you saw the painting translated to the car’s body? Did it turn out as you imagined?
Katrin Westman: “It was my gallery, GSA, that applied for me, and since I wasn’t involved in the beginning of the process, I was surprised and thought it was crazy. It looks cool; it is something completely different from a painting, a different context. It is out of my control.”
What are the benefits of this kind of commercial collaboration between art and industrial design, as you see it?
Katrin Westman: “I think art can reach a broader audience through this kind of meeting. Industrial designers and artists work for different purposes, but both work creatively. There are things to learn from each other, but only time will tell exactly what and where it will lead.”
Do you think that art and artistic creativity have any role or potential in innovation and future sustainable development?
Katrin Westman: “I don’t know if it has any role in sustainable development; art probably doesn’t create that meaning. However, the fact that my painting is different from the usual car body could raise curiosity about both the painting and the car. The potential lies, I think, in embracing an artistic mindset to inspire those working in areas such as product development, industrial design, and others related to future sustainable development.”
Katrin Westman was born in 1987 in Örebro and lives and works in Östra Ämtervik. In the summer of 2015, she obtained a master’s degree in fine arts from the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts after studying painting at the Pernby School of Painting in Stockholm. She is represented by collections throughout the country and has had solo exhibitions at venues such as the Vida Museum, Eskilstuna Art Museum, and Olle Nyman’s Studios and Artist Homes. In 2015, she received a scholarship from the Anna-Lisa Thomson Memorial Foundation, and in 2018, she was awarded a travel and study scholarship from the Carl-Axel Vallén Foundation. Katrin is represented by the Swedish gallery GSA Gallery.
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Photo by Oskar Omne -
Photo by Oskar Omne
BMW has been deeply engaged in the forefront of the arts for over half a century. The company has over 100 long-term initiatives in modern and contemporary art, classical music, jazz, architecture, and design worldwide. BMW Art Commission supports the most promising artists of the day, and we are proud to be able to support the Nordic art scene together.
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