“Letters”, a 3-D installation by perceptual art pioneer Michael Murphy, has been revealed as part of a new marketing campaign celebrating the Lexus guest experience.
The 16-foot (4.87m) art piece, which hangs from six ceiling panels and a steel frame, features more than 2000 suspended pieces of origami, each constructed from individual thank you letters from guests to their Lexus dealerships. From one vantage point, the origami art pieces create the shape of the all-new 2018 LS sedan, while from another vantage point it takes the shape of the Lexus logo.
With the brand’s launch in 1989, Lexus reinvented the luxury car market by introducing new levels of service, customer satisfaction, and quality never before offered by any of the leading brands of the time. That commitment, captured in the Lexus Covenant, is the inspiration for the “Letters” campaign. It is a pledge to value the customer as an important individual, to do things right the first time, and to always exceed expectations.
To showcase the installation, Lexus created a 60-second video featuring guests reading their handwritten letters to dealerships as a Lexus craftsman carefully folds and hangs each one.
Michael Murphy is a well-known and respected visual artist who helped pioneer perceptual art, and is one of the first – and best – at creating large 3-D installations. Murphy has previously worked with a long list of popular brands, including Nike, Air Jordan, Time, Disney and the Obama presidential campaign.
He was the ideal selection for the Lexus “Letters” campaign not only due to his innovative technique, but because he established a career in art not just to create something for people to see, but to create art that people can experience.
The project took hundreds of hours to complete, with the folding and hanging of each origami piece taking nearly 200 hours. The “Letters” art installation – which measures 8 feet (2.43m) wide by 16 feet (4.87m) long, and is suspended 13 feet (3.96m) from the ground – was designed by the artist to be fully transportable, making it available for viewing at select corporate and dealer events across the country.
Check out the winning artworks from the 11th Toyota Dream Car Art Contest.
