Branding within the artworld

Celia Lury, “‘Contemplating a Self-portrait as a Pharmacist’: A Trade Mark Style of Doing Art and Science”, Theory, Culture, Society, Vol.22(1), London: Sage, pp.93-110.

Branding is a topic that relates to contemporary culture in all facets of life it is a way we recognize a product, the quality of it is determined with our past experiences and our knowledge about the product . 'Brands are the express checkout for people living their lives at ever increasing speed.' Forming a strong brand helps the growth and development of a brand to make it more widely recognized within a highly saturated marketplace.

In advertising media are increasly meta-media to translate ideas into successful campaigns. Artists are have to network and meet the right connections in hope to achieve more people viewing their work. In the most recent canvas Magazine within the New Zealand Herald Emma Bugden notes “artists themselves are taking an increasingly independent approach to developing connections and networks, and in shaping their own careers”. As artists we have to be open to ourselves as brand, something that is consumable.

The Young British Artists formed in 1988 in an exhibition encouraged by their tutor Michael Craig-Martin who ‘encouraged and fostered not only the use of a conceptual visual language, but also the importance of selling the artist’. The exhibition was ‘at the time the economic climate was ‘on the cusp of the boom and bust of the late ‘80’.s’ The YBA’s exhibition created excitement for the dwindling art market.


Within the notion of branding, contemporary culture and the art world it led me to consider develop the diagram below:


It shows how art and life are linked. Art is seen as a product to be consumed by the mass market Andy Warhol’s trademark style was the ‘mass produced pictures of consumer goods such as Campbell’s soup’ pictures such as these would appeal to a mass market as it is an everyday item that has been made into an artwork through the reproduction of the image through the process of screenprinting. Recently released books; ‘The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art’ as well as ‘Seven Days in the Art World’ are recently released titles that explore the issues of art branding and the influence the market holds due to the power between artists, dealers, collectors and auction houses.

It is important to have art that reflects the values of a large proportion of people but sometimes I wonder who is the one benefiting. The viewer? Or the artist?


1) Armstrong, G, et al. Principals of Marketing. Australia, Pearson

2) http://www.allaboutbranding.com/index.lasso?article=22 accessed July 27th

3) Schaer, Cathrin. ‘Foreign Affairs’. NZ Herald, Auckland, July 25th Page 8
1) http://members.lycos.co.uk/exposuremagazine/yba.html accessed July 27th
2) Lucy, C. (2005). ‘Contemplating a Self-portrait as a Pharmacist’: A Trade Mark Style of Doing Art and Science.’ London, Sage

James Clifford, “On Collecting Art and Culture”, in 'The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art'.

James Clifford, “On Collecting Art and Culture”, in The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998, pp. 215-251.

James Clifford has been one of the most original, influential, and controversial scholars working in anthropology over the last 30 years . ‘His work has challenged the conventions of anthropology by offering new ways to understand the forces and interactions that shape cultures.’

Within the essay ‘On collecting art and culture’ the most interesting idea for me was that ‘what you collect defines you.’ I am interested in the personal significance an object has to a collector. Collecting is basically defined as the gathering of objects. For me, and many others, the objects we collect link to memories of the past, especially childhood. Collecting objects that have a past life gives the owner a sense of having an important piece of history this is discussed by Susan M Pearce who states that ‘individual objects accumulate meaning as time passes’ she talks about how objects are both active and passive and how meaning develops as an interactive process between thing and viewer.

With Antiquities the objects value is dependent on who once owned the item and the story behind the piece as much as the objects known value. Clifford talks about this on page 222 old objects have a sense of “depth” by their historically minded collectors.’ This is further discussed on page 231 he states that phenomena are ‘rescued’ to prevent decay or loss of a persons memory with that object, ‘The collection contains what “deserves” to be remembered, and treasured” personal experience with an object becomes important, only objects that signify memories that are of significance to the collector are cherished. The New Zealand Herald section ‘Canvas’ asks a person each week ‘What would you save if you house was on fire?’ the most common item something passed down from a family member. This example shows how we link memory through objects therefore Clifford is indeed correct in saying that gathering possessions helps a sense of identity and experience through objects.


http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/clifford_james.html accessed 18th July 20009

ibid

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/collecting accessed 17th July

Pearce, Susan, ed, et al. Interpreting Objects and Collections. London, Routledge Publishing, 1994 pp.19-23

Clifford, James. On Collecting Art and Culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998, pp. 218

Geoff Park “Theatre Country”, in Theatre Country: Essays on landscape and whenua, Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2006, pp. 113-127.

New Zealand scenery is one of beauty. The New Zealand tourism board markets our country as ‘100% pure.’ It has been said that New Zealand is the only country in the world in which nature and the environment are an integral part of the culture. ( NZ Herald) Being a tourist is about experiencing a place first hand.

Gray has been said to ‘make nature into a painting and turn it into a commodity,’ The idea of nature as an object has a large place in society, especially here in New Zealand where the landscape is a commodity. From young we are taught to protect the land we honour it and consider it an important part of our national identity. Artistic expression plays an important role in changing the way we perceive ourselves, in relation to work we live in. In our national Museum Te Papa, a whole floor is dedicated to the Art made by New Zealanders for New Zealanders. Most of which, is New Zealand landscape paintings. We are a nation obsessed with our scenery and the beauty the land holds.


Scenery is what many a tourist visits New Zealand for. The camera is a tool to capture ourselves within the landscape. Capturing our own unique experiences, it becomes ‘evidence that your eyes had been there.’ Through promotion such as Lord of the Rings, and the 100% Pure campaign, we are visited more frequently by tourists wanting to experience, for themselves our scenery. The reader states ‘To the picturesque traveller on the quest for the perfect scene, a Claude Glass was as indispensable as a camera or camcorder are to today’s tourists.’ Many of us in Western society seek to have our picture taken to have an image of our experience ‘made real’ by photography. Thomas Greys statement ‘making nature into a painting values it as a commodity.’ This is true of New Zealand, by having our landscapes in a film people can view the scenes, they then may want to come, and experience the place for themselves. Our picturesque landscape has become as what Gray described a commodity.



Sontag, Susan, On Photography, Picador 2001, pg.151

Gary Taylor: Collaboration called for on major environment issues. 15 June 2009. New Zealand Herald. 16 July 2009 .