Marking the 25th anniversary of the first EOS Rebel SLR camera, Canon U.S.A., Inc. partnered with Grammy Award-winning record producer Swizz Beatz to give a voice to undiscovered artists. In keeping with Canon’s new “Rebel with a Cause” initiative which profiles modern day rebels who challenge convention in their own unique way while capturing causes near and dear to their hearts through the eye of a Canon Rebel DSLR camera, Swizz chose to showcase artistic talent that may have otherwise fallen under the radar of the art community through #TheUnknowns. With a focus on breaking down the boundaries that the art world has built up, Swizz and Canon curated the work of unknown artists and brought their work to the masses, projecting them on the facades of the Brooklyn Museum and Bronx Museum of the Arts.
This video chronicles the Canon/Swizz Beatz initiative, in which a super appears at one point noting that these talented artists can’t break through museum walls but on this special night, they won’t have to. Instead, their work will be shown on the outer walls of museum building facades.
Select works were then featured in a gallery event at Sotheby’s Auction House, where Swizz announced an online auction to increase awareness of #TheUnknowns project and give fans from around the globe the opportunity to participate and help raise funds for the artists by bidding on and buying the art. The online auction will remain open through March 31, 2016 at 6:30 pm EST and can be viewed at theunknownsauction.com.
This “Rebel With A Cause” video was shot entirely on Canon EOS Rebel T6i DSLR cameras. The overall campaign, including the video, was conceived by a creative ensemble at Grey New York. Vision at Grey produced the video which was directed by Anthony DeCarolis, who is also a Grey NY group creative director on the project.
