MAC Fall 09 as seen by Richard Phillips, Painter

Som ni vet vid det här laget släpps en kollektion i september av MAC under namnet Make-Up Art Cosmetics, som ju också är det fullständiga namnet för MAC när man ser bortom förkortningen. Kollektionen består av tre delar, där tre konstnärer har fått tolka MAC och hösten 2009.

MAC celebrates the idea of the artist in every shade and stripe… makeup as art form, we’ve selected three individuals who exemplify this idea. Bold, heroic, big, giggly, playful, clever, dramatic, original, abstract: fall ’09 as seen by Richard Phillips, Maira Kalman and Marilyn Minter. Be inspired.

Vi börjar med Richard Phillips, konstnär:

Richard Phillips surprised even himself with this project. Using the expert skills of a photo-retoucher, he subjected his own painting to a M·A·C makeover with the new eye shadows, blushes and lipsticks. Andy Warhol did a cameo on The Love Boat in 1985…and in the same spirit, Richard Phillips’ 1998 painting, Spectrum, made its debut on an episode of the scandalous Gossip Girl – a sign of the times! Recycled and re-imagined ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s advertisments and images, and every colourful issue ever considered when pondering the question of “identity” is what Richard Phillips is all about. His bold and beautiful portraits are highly technical, a refinement of precise, academic painting, so relevant to everything M·A·C artistry is all about. A collection of Eye Shadow quads, Lipsticks, Lipglass, and The Perfect Cheek Blush just leap off the canvas!

Släppdatum: 15 september 2009

Lipstick DKK 145 / SEK 175 / NOK 155

• Front Lit Light white yellow (Frost)
• High Strung A deep pink silver (Frost)
• Lovin’ It Cool neutral with yellow undertone (Lustre)
• Hold the Pose Brown plum with gold pearl (Lustre)
• Full Body Deep red plum (Lustre)

Lipglass DKK 135 / SEK 160 / NOK 145

• Young Thing Yellow neutral with gold pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Personal Taste Dirty rose with pink and gold pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• New Spirit Light yellow coral (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• On Display Purple with yellow pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)

Notoriety Eyeshadow Quad DKK 315 / SEK 390 / NOK 340

• Skintone 1 Light white pink (Lustre)
• Skintone 2 Dirty gold (Frost)
• Notoriety Dirty brown with gold pearl (Velvet)
• Rich & Earthy Rich coral bronze (Veluxe Pearl)

In the Gallery Eyeshadow Quad DKK 315 / SEK 390 / NOK 340

• Lightfall Pale pink (Satin)
• Look at the Eyes Light violet (Frost)
• In the Gallery Dirty blue pink (Matte)
• Private Viewing Deep brown plum (Matte)

Photo Realism Eyeshadow Quad DKK 315 / SEK 390 / NOK 340

• Photo Realism Gold shimmer with gold pearl (Frost)
• Fresh Approach Cool mint green (Veluxe Pearl)
• Image Maker Dirty grey green (Frost)
• Grey Range Deep blue green (Veluxe Pearl)

Plush Lash DKK 115 / SEK 135 / NOK 125

• Plushblack Black

Powder Blush DKK 170 / SEK 210 / NOK 190

• The Perfect Cheek Dirty pale pink (Matte)
• Notable Dirty brick brown red (Satin)

Jag är helt förälskad i paletten Photo Realism, med de gröna skuggorna. Läppglansen Young Thing (se ovan) är också ett riktigt fint nudegloss, och sådana kan man liksom aldrig ha för många av.

For the full-story on the latest MAC releases in English, visit Temptalia, she has the low-down on american dates and prices. In Scandinavia, MAC Make-up Art Cosmetics collection will be released on September 15 2009. My faves from the Richard Phillips collection are the eye shadow quad in Photo Realism (love those greens) and the lipglass (see pic above) Young thing, a lovely nude.

Intervju med Richard Phillips gjord av MAC – följde med pressreleasen:

Linda Yablonsky: Have you ever worn makeup, Richard?
Richard Phillips: Oh, sure. Absolutely. I was on the death-rock Goth scene in Boston in the early 1980s. I lived with members of a Goth band and an actual witch, so wearing eyeliner and black nail polish was really standard at that time.

Q: For your collaboration with M·A·C, you were given the colour palette of a particular line of makeup to work with. Not black.
A: It was hard to make sense of it at first.

Q: That surprises me. Aren’t you used to painting women in makeup?
A: I know how to make it look as if the makeup is on flesh but I don’t know how the makeup artists actually do it.

Q: So how did you figure it out?
A: I worked with Pascal Dangin, the number one photo retoucher in the fashion business. You know how the human body changes to adapt to its environment? Pascal takes evolution farther, beyond what is physically possible. He has adapted the body to meet unreasonable expectations of beauty, literally creating forms that the eye wants to see.

Q: But didn’t you adapt this painting from one you made for your last show at the Gagosian Gallery?
A: When M·A·C approached me, I knew I wouldn’t have time to make a new painting but I thought I could “retouch” the one I had just finished for the show. Why confine retouching to photography alone? Instead of trying to repaint my canvas with the M·A·C makeup, I thought I could ask Pascal to put the makeup on the painting by digital means.

Q: So you virtually “made up” the painting, the way a makeup artist would a living model?
A: Yes. It was quite a unique collaboration. Cosmetics create different types of appearances for a face and to have them put into a painting of a face – I don’t think it’s ever been done before.

Q: Can you describe the process?
A: Pascal created six different possibilities from the M·A·C palette, using so many different layers and separations of colour it made my head spin.

Q: Then how did you decide on the right “look” for the painting?
A: The first examples were shocking because they were too bright. The M·A·C colours were much more muted and subdued. So we made the lips darker and cooled down the skin tone. The eye shadow is also radically different than it is in the painting, where the head appears upside-down. Here it’s sideways. We really put a lot of effort into creating something extraordinary.

Q: Did you choose this painting to work on because it’s a close-up of a woman’s face?
A: She’s not wearing heavy makeup in the original, so she made the perfect canvas. It’s called “Bondensee,” the name of the lake that joins Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In my painting, it appears in the background behind the model, whose image I took from a porn magazine.

Q: It’s a very arresting image, partly because it is cropped so closely, and partly because of the dark tones of the M·A·C colours you’ve applied to it.
A: In painting, you can create power through beauty, and when I speak of power I am speaking of creating unfulfilled desire. This image is advertising something that isn’t there – the unseen eroticism of the rest of her body. The painting is really an expression of sensuality.

Q: Funny, but the reproduction still seems more like a painting than a photograph. The eyelashes alone are incredibly detailed.
A: I know. You could put your face right up to this face and it will still look exactly as if it were painted. I was floored when I saw it. I’m still not over it.