AUSTIN LYNN AUSTIN

I love this clip. I would like to make an entire video for them like this. Can anyone make this happen? I’m not sure who took the photo but JahTyler on youtube shot the clip.

This project was like a jam session, a riff on graphics and stills. My motion graphics artist and I were playing the juxtaposed computers like instruments or turntables.

M.A.C had just finished shooting the stills in the UK with Miles Aldridge. Toni Lakis at M.A.C set this in motion with a cool direction she wanted to go in and gave me the freedom to take it there. A great starting point was the track by Mika from Klein Records in Vienna. It had the right tempo and spoke the right language.

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?

Photographer Clive Booth asked me to get involved in a project he was doing with fashion designer Roksanda Ilincic. Clive had documented four consecutive fashion shows for Roksanda at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK.

I like Clive’s open-aperture, shallow-depth-of-field style. The footage was something I really needed to absorb; there was a lot of it. This needed an imaginative concept to pull it together. Again, I found myself with a lot of freedom to create what I wanted. Roksanda’s strong features and glaring eyes made me dream of magical, emotional, breathless moments. It ended up being a little less about the event and more about textures, color, emotion and dreams.

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.

A series of photos I took are being published in the Fall 2009 M.A.C Zine. The photos support a preview article about M.A.C’s Fall 2009 collection and the artists involved. On the title spread are also some frames from the video I directed. Big thanks to designer Loann Lam for including my work.

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