Blank page (Intentional)
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M/M Paris
(1992–Present)
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Michael Amzalag Mathias Augustyniak
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Fresh out of college (in the 90s), graphic students Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag, who graduated from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs (class of ‘89) and Royal College of Art (class of ‘91) in London, respectively. Neither of them wanted to intern, so they just started working together.
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vintage posters now reproduced photographs of the above are sold.
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chicago, 2013
They started working on designing packaging for CDs but eventually moved on to art and fashion.
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id—femininity, 2005
They collaborate a lot with photographers, whose names are Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin. The different personalities about this particular photography duo is that despite strong aesthetic style, they’re not precious about their photos, which means they allowed MM Paris to freely modify and alter whatever they see fit.
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balenciaga campaign, 2001
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chiara di sole, 2010
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chiara di luna, 2010
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vanessa paradis’ concert
Their general approach is similar to polish Posters from the likes of Henrik Tomaszewski, as they are also often hand marks such as illustrations. However, the difference being the polish school did it out of necessity and they didn’t have photographs to play with so I’ve always thought of M/M as the Polish poster school on cocaine. Consists of (almost always) Black and white type with a color photograph. These approach would exists in both their professional and personal (art) work. The purpose of this method is to “accentuate hidden aspects of the photograph.”
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melvil, 2005
The work of M/M Paris usually consists of photographs, usually banal, with added layers of drawings and illustrations. These “hand-marks� are almost always prevalent in their work, most of the time through a simple drawing pen.
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Their preferred working method is through “heavy” and “long” conversations with the clients. If the theme of a show is a story then they will try to come up with their version of the story.
givenchy
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fracois curlet galerie poster, 2005
Many of the projects they do for Yohji Yamamoto, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Bjork are often photos by these two photographers manipulated or drawn on in some ways. They refuse to work “only for the museum� scene, instead, they would like their work to be exposed as much as possible.
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francois curlet artbook, 2013
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“When a project fails, we take as our starting point the principle that it’s a conversation that didn’t work out the way it should have, but that doesn’t change anything from the fact that we made an effort to serve an idea we believed in. That’s why we always try to reuse the idea’s outcome.” —M/M Paris dash, 2010
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They consider the artist approach to be elitist (even though they are selling their prints on their own website and have had their work displayed in a show they were supposed to be designing collaterals for. Instead, they approach the curator and proposed their own role to be like that of the artist included within the show and be treated as such).
double agent, 2013
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m/m paris artbook by graphic thought facility, 2013
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“…practice of permanently reusing the same materials. Couldn’t we in effect say that in this way of doing things there is a kind of idea that, at the end, every project you do is partial, more or less abortive inasmuch as its elements will be found again in the following one.” ” —Hans-Ulrich Obrist haunch of venison, 2006
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no ghost just a shell, 2001
The “No Ghost Just a Shell” project creates connections and networks between the artists and the venues involved in the exhibitions that are not like the way artworks are usually exhibited. Here the ‘same’ image infiltrates a whole range of locations and contexts as part of individual artistic practice: a multiplication of the effects of production, presentation and reception, a multiplication of the same as a form of difference. An ‘Annlee’ shell that is always the same, ‘authors’ who are always subjective? Is it possible to imagine a figure without character, what is the figure or subject we are dealing with, how does ‘identity’ come into being, in reality, in the cinema, in art? The original computer file, the first version of ‘Annlee’, was digitally reduced by Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno to the form of an almond-eyed, empty artificial being. [text taken from the kunsthalle zurich press release]
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“…what you have to understand about unrealised projects is that we end up with signs that are a little bit like waste, elements floating in space that have no owner and that tend to escape their authors. They float, waiting to exist elsewhere and differently.” —M/M Paris
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murat tristan, 2010
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tomorrow is naother ifne day, 2005
Their whole distribution platform and output could entirely be based on print production, campaign, printed magazines, galleries, and museums.
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Some of their work is straightforward enough that it does not need much explanation (such as a Typeface for a fashion magazine made out of cutouts of fashion photography).
photographers, 2010
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points on a line, 2010
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prada alphabets, 2010
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alphabets from photographs
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points on a line, 2010
However, for their gallery pieces such as No Ghost in the Shell, one need to look to their explanation and reasoning (for collaborating with the stated artist) to see what they are trying to say.
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witness screen, 2010
Their process seems to be ambiguous but they almost always stated that they start with a conversation with the client and then seem to have freedom to do whatever they want. They are the go-to studio for fashion world these days, and can probably massacre anyone they want.
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alphadicks, 2005
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“If we step back and look at the history of signs, it is clear that being an author, someone who has a point of view, has always endured. We believe in having a point of view and being able to distort the message. Either you do it consciously, or unconsciously, but you do it anyway.” —M/M Paris
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m/m mink, 2010 Supposed to smell like ink.
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missoni campaign [supermodels], 2014
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dior homme, 2014
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dior homme, 2014
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Sources http://www.mmparis.com/texts/mm_king.html http://www.mmparis.com/texts/mm_gingeras.html Cole, Alex. Dialogical Design: M/M and Design’s Interface with Art Rawsthorn, Alice. M/M (Paris): Art, commerce and communication, all in one. The New York Times Style Section. January 11, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/style/11iht-design14.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0