MACHAS

ENDLESS SUMMER

We all remember when a young John Travolta was crooning “Summer days, slipping” in Grease — and as days roll into another autumn nothing seems truer!

When Havas London contacted Machas to consult on the new global campaign for Mateus Rose, the renowned Portuguese rosé, the mission was clear: to capture the essence of that warm summer vibe at first glance, any day, any time.

The perfect talent to recreate a dreamlike beachside scenario was Machas Artist Network’s Amy Friend: albeit more accustomed to the fine art world, Amy was thrilled to lend her hand-made puncturing treatment to an advertising campaign.

“ It is exciting to see companies approach artists to work with them on a commercial project,” Amy told us, “It establishes a new relationship between the intimate or solitary processes in the studio and a much larger audience that will encounter the work, albeit with a new bent”.

Everyone here at Machas was really excited about putting forward Amy’s work for this campaign as we were absolutely sure her treatment was going to bring to the table a natural warmth that would fit the brief perfectly. As Mateus’ “Surprisingly Lively” is gracing billboard and screens across the world, we asked Amy to tell us a bit more about her work and her experience on the campaign.

Were they any challenges on this project?
“There were a few new challenges to work around with this project. In my own work, I have control to choose the imagery I use; I tend to focus on a monochromatic colour scheme. With this project, the photographs with were in colour and due to the nature of my process, these colours would be muted to a certain degree. I aimed to balance this so that the photographs did not lose too much colour but had the softer values that are a result of manipulations I apply to the photographs.
In addition, I had to apply a concentrated amount of holes for the product and text to appear as the client intended.  This application resulted in a very fragile photographic surface”.

Can you tell us more about your treatment?
“The photographs are hand-manipulated on directly onto their surface. I use strategic holes in the photographs in order to allow light to pass through the surface.”

What is the most difficult part of the treatment?
“I would say that it is quite difficult to keep the scale of the punctures the same as variations in diameter greatly alter the appearance of the light shining through the surface. Also, the lighting that illuminates the holes requires quite a bit of trial and error in order to achieve the “glow” that I aim to have in the final piece.”

How did you “discover” this treatment?
“It was somewhat by mistake. I actually began this process by embroidering onto vintage photographs. I have always had an interest in vernacular photography (which I prefer to call “lost photography”) While I was sewing I held the photograph to the light and realized that the light shining through the holes in the image was more interesting to me so I decided to experiment with the process further. This resulted in the Dare alla Luce series.”

You are a fine art based photographer, how do you see your work being used for a commercial campaign?
“I think it is great to cross that “boundary” between fine and commercial art. More and more artists are working within both fields. I think it offers something new and fresh to the possibilities for both industries.”

Mateus’ “Surprisingly Lively” campaign is out now.

* photo by Jason Knott