AUSTIN LYNN AUSTIN

It was a great way to end last year’s run with this video. Congratulations, Marilyn.

Now playing: Green Pink Caviar at MoMA, New York

11 W 53rd Street
New York, NY 10019
Ongoing

Another season has arrived. Last year’s Halloween Fantasticals video for M.A.C was such a success with their audience that we set out to make another one this year. Once again, I enlisted the musical talents of Omar Ajluni and went for a tribal score to match the sequential stills and frequent frames. M.A.C’s audience has fully embraced the piece and, hopefully, we inspired several to get their makeup kits out and have some fun this year.

M.A.C says: Spooky-kooky to ga-ga gorgeous, the top looks of Halloween are here as five M∙A∙C Senior Artists demonstrate how monstrously fun and devilishly doable our looks can be!

METAMORPHOSIS

Girls from outer space landed in Berry Behrendt’s Beaver street studio just in time for us to shoot this magazine promo. More candy for the eyes, devoid of narrative, but with large doses of energy, light and textures.

If I meet someone for the first time, say in my local French bistro, and they ask me – Austin what do you do? Instead of the default answer - video director, film maker etc… These days I just tell people “I sling eye candy for a living”. The next question is usually – what does that mean?

M.A.C - Fall ‘09 as seen by New York artists Marilyn Minter, Richard Phillips, and Maira Kalman.

I embarked on this project at the end of last year and it’s great to finally have it go public. It gave me an intimate insight into some really wonderful New York artists. Their passion, techniques and points of view inspired me. Marilyn’s quest for the magic moment, Richard’s creative zone and Maira’s feel for color, texture and humor will resonate with me for a long time.

So many projects have come and gone this year but this is one I will remember. For me it was about creativity, process, color and New York City. I felt ‘right at home’ documenting creative minds that live for their work.

This project was also the seed of my collaboration with Marilyn Minter.

M.A.C says:

M∙A∙C takes you behind the scenes to visit the three top contemporary artists as they create the dynamic images for the Fall ‘09 Make-up Art Cosmetics colour collection. See what happens when M∙A∙C makeup and these art world luminaries get together. Art is in M∙A∙C’s DNA, so this season we celebrated artists in every shade and stripe by inviting three of the art worlds leading luminaries to create images for our Fall ‘09 Make-Up Art Cosmetics collection. See these artists as they work with M∙A∙C colour. Richard Phillips with his trademark approach to hyper-glamour, digitally retouches an image with supersaturated M∙A∙C colour and finishes. Illustrator, Maira Kalman, makes bold with shades, giving us a playfully eccentric, brighter-than-bright take on life, while Marilyn Minter’s attitude towards seduction and sexiness meets its match in M∙A∙C pigments and glitter.

2009 has been a slamming busy time.

I have burnt through 15 projects in the last 5 months. It’s as if the economy tanked and my stock went up. All of the projects have been wonderfully creative and I have had the opportunity to work with some very talented people. This period has really pushed me to explore the depths of my creativity. I have had to harness the ability to ‘turn it on’ when needed and it’s a delight to see the results.

I have been very fortunate to work with some great people over at M.A.C Cosmetics; several of the recent projects have come from them. I’m really grateful for the amount of creative freedom they allow me and it’s a pleasure to collaborate with the people that work there.

We have been creating a fascinating project that is currently in the final stages of post production. The video, Makeup Arts Cosmetics, will represent M.A.C’s Fall 2009 collection. M.A.C commissioned Marilyn Minter, Richard Phillips and Maira Kalman to create works of art inspired by their collection and asked me to document the artists’ process organically and with an artistic eye.

Every time I finished shooting a segment of this piece, I got a deep reminder of where I am. So much of this project is really about New York, the artworks created for the collection were made here, the artists are here and have history here. This was one of those could-happen-only-in-New-York projects. And as it gets closer to completion, I’m able to contemplate about all that has gone on this year.

As we edge slowly towards midyear, I’m daydreaming of what is to come in the second half. Lets go!

Big props go to friends and colleagues for their support and collaboration: Cindy Carrandi, James Gager, Toni Lakis, Loann Lam, Jason Naylor, Tom Alphers, Clive Booth, Berry Behrendt, Sonja Roberts, Charles Parker, Jason Lehr, Noah Workman, Patrick Rousseau, Omar Jon Ajluni, Christian Gibbs, Liz Godoy, Vava, Marco Testa and, of course, Marilyn Minter, Richard Phillips and Maira Kalman.

Recent project titles -
Rose Romance
Style Warriors
Artists Representation
Senior Artists
M.A.C In Mode
Makeup Arts Cosmetics / Artist Collaboration
Green Pink Caviar
They Are Like Us But Better
Heike Jarick
Metamorphosis
Roksanda Ilincic
Dsquared2
Style Black
Holiday
M.A.C Pro HD

I got a mention in Art section of New York Magazine’s April 27th issue from an interview they did with Marilyn Minter about our video. Thanks again MM. You are a superstar!

Today, it really felt like spring had finally arrived. When I shot this commercial, I remember floating in fabric and dreaming of spring as winter was setting in. I focused on color, texture, movement and flow. I love things that feel timeless and, to me, spring is a season of timeless memories. It’s a season that can be kaleidoscopic and dreamlike. At least that is how I remember it.

This commercial is part of a photo and video campaign for fashion designer Heike Jarick’s Spring 2009 collection.

“I think anything that gets wet… starts getting sexy”. She says in an interview on 27th street in April.

She makes me smile. When I think of Marilyn, I think of tripping over things, new discoveries, lush details and grotesquely beautiful glamour. That is her. And in a strange mix of circumstance I managed to be in the fortunate position of capturing her GreenPinkCaviar.

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GREENPINKCAVIAR

- is currently showing through April on TIMES SQUARE, NYC at  441/2

By Marilyn Minter
Shot and Edited by Austin Lynn Austin
Music by J. Ralph
Models Cinthia Diker, Lousia Taadou

GREENPINKCAVIAR.COM
TimeOut New York

TIMES SQUARE SCREENING TIMES

Monday-Friday: Each video will be shown at the top of the hour, every hour.
Saturday-Sunday: All three videos will be shown back to back at 12 pm and 3 pm. All other hours follow the weekday rotation.
Subject to change… of course.

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MARILYN MINTER
Upcoming projects include: a solo exhibition at Regen Projects in fall 2009 in conjunction with a public art project presented with ForYourArt. In September, both the Zaha Hadid designed Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati and the newly opened contemporary art space ‘La Conservera’ in Murcia, Spain will present installations of Minter’s work, which will include include large scale projections of the eight minute version of Green Pink Caviar.

CREATIVETIME FORYOURART SALON94 REGENPROJECTS