Lexus Rolls Through Masterpieces of Art in This Strange Yet Charming European Campaign

We've seen artsy advertising before, but this is ridiculous. Luxury car marker Lexus just launched a European campaign that brings famous paintings and sculptures to life. In the ad below, from CHI & Partners, a modern couple drive a new NX sedan through re-creations of scenes from memorable works by Johannes Vermeer, Vincent Van Gogh, Jeff Koons, Piet Mondrian and George Seurat. Their trip ends in a detailed, full-scale mockup of the diner from Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks," of course! [kickout id="1"] If you can name each piece represented in the spot, then your art history degree was worth every penny. "As Lexus is famed for its exquisite design credentials, we felt it would be fitting to pay homage to some of the world's greatest works of art," says CHI & Partners joint executive creative director Micky Tudor. "It's been a pleasure to see such a simple idea delivered so beautifully. The attention to detail is phenomenal, and the work has been crafted to within an inch of its life." The commercial's framing device is so unusual for the category—and so smoothly staged by Stink Films directors Jake Knight and Ryoko Tanaka (aka Ne-O)—that it transcends its own strangeness and radiates considerable surreal charm (despite lacking works by any actual surrealists!). Alas, the tagline, "The Art of Standing Out," is no masterpiece. You know, if Van Gogh were alive today, he'd probably work as a commercial illustrator and drive a Lexus. And if Andy Warhol were still around, he'd dump Campbell's Soup over his agent's head for not getting his celebrated cans into this campaign. Ah well, plenty of artists didn't make the cut. And here, by and large, is the reason why: "The most important thing for us was that the artworks would be famous enough to be easily recognizable, but we also needed to be able to recreate them realistically in the urban landscape," says agency account manager Oliver May. "That rules out a lot of modern abstract and expressionist art. And we also wanted to have a mix of the old and new. At one time or other, I think we considered nearly every famous modern work of art from the last 200 years—but ultimately we chose the pieces we did because they are truly iconic and helped to tell our story." Given the intricacy of the project, broad strokes or a paint-by-numbers approach simply wouldn't get the job done. "The directors' and art department's brief was to create believable modern interpretations of the artworks while staying as close to the original paintings as possible," says agency producer Andy Roberts. "We paid incredibly close attention to casting and wardrobe, built the entire 'Nighthawks' set from a CGI model so we could control perspective, used an intricate set of wires to hang the Van Gogh flowers in the correct positions, and shot Bathers with a mixture of plates—anything we could do to retain the detail and not interrupt the flow of the ad." WORKS REPRESENTED • Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" • Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" • Koons's "Balloon Dog" • Mondrian's "Composition A" • Seurat's "Bathers at Asnieres" • Hopper's "Nighthawks" CREATIVE CREDITS Brand: Lexus Europe Client: Michael Tripp, Marketing Director Agency: CHI & Partners ECD: Micky Tudor, Yan Elliott CD: Monty Verdi Creatives: James Crosby Planner: Paulina Goodwin, Matt Bamford-Bowes Executive Producer: Charles Crisp Producer: Andy Roberts Business Director: Tom McCoy Account Director: Anastasia Terzeon Account Manager: Oliver May Project Director: Ant Borkett Production Company: Stink Director: Ne-O Producer: Juliet Naylor Production Manager: Zoe Acourt Executive Producer: Jon Chads Director of Photography: Stuart Graham Set Designer: James Hatt Service company: Papaya Post-Production & Visual FX: The Mill Executive Producer: Ian Berry Producer: Tom Manton, Simon Bath. Lead Flame artist: Gareth Brannan Colourist: Seamus O'Kane Lead CG: Philip Maddock 2D Artists: Sole Martin, David Wishart Matte Painting: German Casado, Cameron Johnson Editors: The Quarry Editor: Jonny Scarlett Editor Assistant: Patrick Walsh Producer: Charlie Morris Recording Studio: Clearcut Sound Studios Sound Engineer: Chris Wigglesworth Music Company: Dave Goulding @ Wake the Town

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Lexus Rolls Through Masterpieces of Art in This Strange Yet Charming European Campaign

CHI & Partners' surreal canvas

David Gianatasio

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David Gianatasio