by Ariadna Zierold
Team Macho is a collaborative illustration and fine art effort composed of Lauchie Reid, Chris Buchan, Nicholas Aoki, and Stephen Appleby-Barr. They create wildly playful and humorously crude works that range from rough illustration to polished paintings. They currently occupy a large studio in Toronto, Canada where their joint efforts are divided equally between illustrating for very fine clients and preparing gross quantities of highly imaginative artwork for galleries in Canada and abroad.
Designed to subvert any sense of singular authorship, their production is a collaborative form of process art by which an individual paints a portrait or scene informed by elements from his compatriots’ portfolios. The result is an endless reinterpretation of each other’s point of view. The visual components of each work, however thematic or peripheral, become a pleasant surprise to both viewer and creator. The unspoken element that is conversely integral to Team Macho’s process is their piecemeal approach to collaboration; every member has contributed to each work even if someone’s hand never touches the actual work.
