Hyundai i40: Make an Impression

To showcase the abilities of the new Hyundai i40 Innocean Sydney and The Sweet Shop's Noah Marshall called on the expertise and artistry of Jimmy Denevan, a landscape artist who isn't afraid of taking on big challenges. These three films (part one above, and parts two and three below) highlight the challenges involved in creating epic art, and the usefulness of a Hyundai i40 in putting it together.  And below, Scott Lambert, crerative director at Innocean Sydney, explains some of the thinking behind the caign.

What was the brief from the client?

In keeping with their design philosophy Hyundai put every effort into making the i40 as beautiful as possible. The lines had been inspired by fluid sculptural forms such as those created by architect Zaha Hadid. They were after communications that showed this beauty in a unique, visual manner and also stayed true to the artistic heritage of the design. As well, we were asked to show that there is substance to the car in the way it is made and the way it performs.

Where did the idea to use Jimmy Denevan for this caign?

We'd seen the work Jim had done in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada and in Siberia, so he had long been on our wish list. His beautiful, grand and immaculately precise techniques were a perfect fit for Hyundai and the i40.

Was he immediately open to the idea?

He had always wanted to do something in Australia and so his interest was piqued immediately. He had also always wanted to explore further the possibilities of using a car to create his art. In the past he'd used snow blowers, rakes, bicycles and sticks – but to get onto a truly grand scale there is no substitute for four wheels. We assured him that we weren't going to ask him do anything as obvious as a logo in the salt lake and he came on board just about straight away. We wanted his art without compromise, and that really helped. There was a delay in getting him here to Australia because of commitments he had throughout Europe and the US, but we managed to find a window that we could all work with.

Once he was onboard what was the next step; did you plan together where and how the piece of art would happen?

Finding the location was the trickiest aspect. Record rains in the north of the country last year had flowed into large swathes of desert and filled all the lakes. Typically, South Australia would have been the logical place for this to happen. However, thanks to an extraordinarily diligent location scout we found Lake Rebecca in West Australia that was both not too wet nor too dry for that art to be made on. Once we found the location, we gave Jim a blank page to work with. The design was not pre-planned at all until Jim had had the opportunity to walk around the salt lake and get a feeling for the environment.

What was the hardest part of the project?

The weather conditions in this region are extreme. Burning during the day and frigid at night. As well, there were literally billions of flies. Most of the crew spent the entire time covered with fly nets, and we were constantly chasing away small black blobs from the camera lens. But to his credit, the tough conditions didn't stop Jim for a second. He actually seemed to enjoy it.

What did Noah Marshall bring to the project?

We were excited to be working with Noah. He really understood that we wanted to document an event, rather than simply making an ad. We were terrified that viewers would think that we'd done the whole thing in post, which is generally the norm these days. Noah understood this and brought many ideas to the table to make sure that the authenticity of the artwork was maintained through each piece of film we shot.