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All photos by Fiamma Piacentini.

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Many thanks also to Fela Cortes, Craig’s studio manager; Steve Kalalian, Jenny McClary, and all of our other friends at Industrial Color; Shelly Rangisyakul, who handled PR; DJ May Kwok, who provided the perfect soundscape; and Katya Arsenieva, Jerrett Wells, Marc Carlucci, Thiana Anderson, and the rest of the team here at Stockland Martel, who worked so hard to help make the event a success.

CC52 was an exceptionally dynamic project, and Craig and his team’s installation of the work really got that across. They featured his CC52 motion pieces in several different viewing areas and formats, pinned an entire wall with his sketches and visual research, and made thoughtful selections from among the 418 photographs, 72 sketches, and 17 short films Craig produced for CC52. There was a lot of material to take in, so their intelligent staging of the show was all the more important. We’ll have lots more installation shots and party photos to share with you very soon. The ones below are by Fiamma Piacentini.

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Craig Cutler with photographer David Langley.

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In early 2011, commercial photographer Craig Cutler was ready to start a new project. His 25-year career shooting commercial and editorial assignments was going strong, and he often shot personal work. But he was looking for something different to do. After discussing his restlessness with his agency, Stockland Martel, its marketing team presented Cutler with a challenge—almost a dare, he says—to shoot something new every week for a year. They even came up with a name: CC52—“CC” for his initials; “52” for the number of weeks in a year.

“I would not have suggested 52 weeks of anything to anyone other than Craig Cutler,” says rep Maureen Martel. “But I knew he could deliver … [because he’s] a completely dedicated, hardworking, creative photographer, who produces a lot of personal work.”

Cutler accepted the challenge, put his other personal projects on hold and started thinking about meeting CC52’s deadlines. Each week Stockland Martel would create a blog post featuring his new work and every four weeks one post would be included in the agency’s e-mail blast.

Read the rest here.

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DJ May Kwok. Photo courtesy maykwok.com.

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We’re thrilled to announce that May Kwok, who is something of a celebrity in the competitive DJ world, has signed on to spin at Craig Cutler‘s upcoming show, “CC52: The Exhibition,” May 10 at Industrial Color. A native New Yorker, May has worked at some of the hottest events in the downtown scene, with clients including the Jane Hotel, Indochine, the Soho Grand, and Catherine Malandrino.

If you haven’t RSVPed for Craig’s event at Industrial Color, be sure to do so at cc52@stocklandmartel.com. It’s going to be a great night!

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Go here or on the screenshot below to read Industrial Color‘s interview with Bernice Gonzalez, who edited the motion pieces Craig Cutler created for CC52.

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And don’t forget: “CC52: The Exhibition” is coming up May 10 at Industrial Color. RSVP at cc52@stocklandmartel.com.

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Hired for his highly technical, masterful conceptual work, Cutler’s advertising and editorial client list includes IBM, HP, Chase, Exxon, Martha Stewart, Citigroup, Starbucks and eBay. This interview focuses on CC52, but please check out recent commercial projects and the CC52 projects we did not have room to feature on his newly launched website.

I’ve been watching the unfolding of CC52 and planning the interview with Craig for months. I often go into the interviews with an assumption and tailor a few questions around revealing this. What I’ve learned is that this approach can go one way or the other and it is most interesting when I am surprised by what I learn rather than what I think I know, which was the case with CC52.

Rather than a presumed evolution of concept or an inner exploration, CC52 is an elegant record of a master and his craft, the creative process distilled. And just beneath an interview that moves along quickly is a sub-text, a reflection of the process at hand with CC52. Tightly edited and short on labrynth deliberations on lessons learned, we are witness to a key talent and skill of the most successful artists, the ability to concept, evaluate and execute on schedule and on budget, leave ideas that won’t work on the cutting-room floor, and deliver a unique creative solution that takes the ‘brief’ to the next level.

The other story is about collaboration. More on this in the interview. But in my conversations with Craig, the conversation came time and again to the team effort that this project required and his appreciation for the contributions of his collaborators including his long-time assistant, stylists, sound and video editors and his creative director. I got the sense that he felt the projects relied as much because on their contributions as they did his ideas and direction.

Continued here.

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Title: “Words”
Concept: Static words in a world of evolution.
Original concept and creative direction: Craig Cutler and Stephen Meierding
Original music: Sami Jano
Editor: Stephen Meierding
Assistant editor: Cooper Penn
Digital post processing: Bernice Gonzalez via Industrial Color
Prop stylist: Cindy Sandmann
Camera assistants: Tre Cassetta, Jeff Cate, John D. Huttenberger, Jarren Vink, Daniel Zverreff
Letterpress flip book: Ray Nichols at Lead Graffiti
Studio location: Fast Ashleys

See the complete CC52 here or at cc52.tumblr.com.

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Title: “Domestic Beer”

Sketch and photos © Craig Cutler.

Follow CC52 here or at cc52.tumblr.com.

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"Schaefer (Single Can)"

"Pabst Blue Ribbon"

"Schaefer"

"Old Milwaukee"

"Rolling Rock"

"Miller"

"Budweiser"

"Coors"

"Busch"

"Narragansett"

"Mixed Beer Composition 1"

"Mixed Beer Composition 2"

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