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
Hi Emma, The idea of artist as brand is not necessarily a contemporary construct, albeit it has been 're-branded' (haha) to suit the times. Traditionally artists who have an established practice tend to produce recognisable work anyway - and this is debatable whether this is a stylistic concern, or whether a distinctive style is developed to be recognisable and agreeable for their patrons - here I am thinking of such painting greats as Rembrandt, Turner, Michelangelo etc etc. A counter-argument is that they may not have been the -marketing-machine' that Damien Hirst is, however many of them would have had specific patrons and regular clientele.
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