• by Larissa Faw , April 25, 2016

The Andy Warhol Museum is promoting a new show by artist and restaurateur Michael Chow by borrowing from the exhibition’s title and theme in order to "capture the essence and depth of this exhibition and the artist."  

Developed with agency Marc USA, the "Voice For My Father" campaign includes posters and print ads as well as digital spots that depict Chow in his painter’s gear -- complete with respirator mask – with a giant-sized shadow of an Asian image lurking in the background. This shadow is meant to symbolize the relationship between father, son and country. The image's various tag lines include “No Small Canvas Could Contain His Larger-Than-Life Legacy" And "Oil Paints. Gold Flakes. Egg Shells. Ghosts." 

A cinema ad brings the print ad concept to life by showing Chow walking to the center of the screen while the animated image of a Chinese Opera Singer rises behind him. The ad then shows the words:  “Explore Michael Chow’s past and the work it influenced.”  

Also, a live, interactive art installation was designed to spark viral buzz after appearing in downtown Pittsburgh from April 21–23. The agency recreated a special version of the video ad that projected on the side of a building in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. Passersby were encouraged to strike a theatrical pose in front of a green screen stationed just across the street, with their images superimposed over Chow’s shadow in the building projection. Then these participants were invited to post photographs of their projected image with the hashtag #LegacyShadow.  

“Our challenge with this campaign was to tell a story of the inspiration of old upon new. The shadow images we depict behind Chow refer to China’s history -- an opera costume, a pagoda, a Chinese dragon -- while the image in front is of Chow today,” says Bryan Hadlock, chief creative officer, Marc USA. “The ads have a theatricality to them that captures the personality of the man and his work.” 

Voice For My Father is Chow’s first solo exhibition in the U.S. and features three main bodies of work, including new paintings completed expressly for The Warhol exhibition, vintage photographs of the artist’s father Zhou Xinfang -- a grand master of the Beijing Opera -- and a collection of portraits of Chow painted by his contemporaries, such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Ed Ruscha.