Comprised of members Nicholas Aoki, Stephen Appleby-Barr, Christopher Buchan, and Lauchie Reid, Team Macho shares a large studio in Toronto, where their collective efforts are focused on developing an art-making practice that spans the worlds of both fine art and illustration. Ranging from the crudely painted to the classically rendered, Team Macho playfully juxtaposes styles and motifs to collage concepts that encompass a replete list of materials and methods. The group was not formed out of commonality in style or process, but rather an appreciation and respect for each other’s strategies in creation.
Each work by Team Macho begins as an existing vintage painting, often in its found frame, that the members then add to. The result is the addition of subtle, humorous images that play with the original artists supposed aesthetic intention. Though these interventions are often small, their presence shifts the entire meaning of the piece from idealized landscape to absurd vignette and adds another layer to their already collaborative process. Team Macho’s work has been shown at Giant Robot NY (New York), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), and on the CBC. Their irreverent, surprising, and often absurd works can be found in every guest room.