ADVERTISING AS ART

I know before I've posted how to be creative with advertising (see it here) but in this post let's talk about how advertising and art have been linked. Hopefully many of you watched the final episode of Mad Men this past Sunday, if not it's OK... but you should start watching Mad Men ASAP, and as viewers you would know when the advertising group (SC&P or McCann Erickson) would present their ad to their client they would really try and create a feeling sparked by the creative work. Art is just the same, art is only good if it creates a feeling within the viewer. Anyone can throw paint or charcoal at something, but if you can make someone feel something and move them with the specifics of what you did or the meaning behind it, then you've done your job and your work should be in a museum.

Advertising and Art have always had a close relationship for the obvious reason, they're both visual ways of communicating something. The beginning of that is Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and his lithograph prints and posters specifically. Even though he was a very skillful Impressionist painter, draughtsman, and artist in general his work with prints of the dancers of Moulin Rouge are what started the connection between Art and Advertising.

Throughout Art History we do see a lot more artists attempting to make the connection between Fine Art and Advertising. Another successful artist who made the connection is Andy Warhol. He started out early doing ink blot drawings of shoes and ended up creating massive collaborations. We all know of his Campbell Soup Can...

Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans, screen print, 1962 Display view at MoMA, New York

Andy Warhol, Absolut Vodka, screen print, 1986

Another artist who has combined with advertising is Norman Rockwell, like in this "Out Fishin'" Ad created for Coca Cola in the 1930s. This piece specifically creates a feeling and a world that you'd want to live in.

It's hard to tell when Art and Advertising combine which it better belongs to. They say any advertising is good advertising. Yet just a few lucky advertisers come along and create a feeling and a connection with the viewer that are memorable for many years to come. That is the connection with Fine Art and that is how you know you are a truly talented advertiser.

ARTISTS AS PRANKSTERS

It's April Fool's Day so what better to talk about than artists who are known as pranksters. There have been many pranks pulled throughout Art History but here are two artists who stand out the most.

The first is Harvey Stromberg. Now, it's hard to find any actual information about him and his art but we do know that in the early 1970's he got this idea to go to the MoMA and make exact sticker replicas of light switches, air vents, locks, and things like that. So weeks before his "exhibition" he walked around the MoMA and took notes on the structural details to create the realistic looking stickers. When he went to place them he said "When I install a piece, my adrenalin is racing. In fact, its very hard for me to come up with serious reasons why I do it." A lot of his "pieces" stayed up for 2 years before Stromberg held an fake gallery opening with plastic champagne glasses. And that's about all we know about it! A lot of people think it's strictly a prank, others like to think it's art. What's your opinion?

On another hand we have an actual artist who is known for high class pranking, Banksy. Having placed his own work in museums from the British Museum, to the Louvre and the Met, Banksy has done it all and made a statement while doing it.
In 2005 Banksy placed a stone with a cave drawing on it with a caveman pushing a shopping cart in the British Museum's Ancient Artifacts Section. This piece apparently stayed up for 3 days going unnoticed.

Image from British Museum

Again in 2005 Banksy smuggled in his works (all Anti-War related) into museums in New York City. Including a fake Andy Warhol print "Discount Soup Can" in the MoMA, "You Have Beautiful Eyes" in the Met, "Soldier with Spraycan" in the Brooklyn Museum, and "Withus Oragainstus" in New York's Natural History Museum.

Banksy, Discount Soup Can, 2005, Museum of Modern Art

Banksy, You Have Beautiful Eyes, 2005, Metropolitan Museum of Art

"You Have Beautiful Eyes" in place in the Met

Banksy, Soldier with Spraycan, 2005, Brooklyn Museum

Banksy, Withus Oragainstus, 2005, Museum of Natural History

In 2006 Banksy put a life-sized replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in Disneyland inside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. It remained there for 90 minutes before the ride was closed down and they removed the statue.

Image from www.woostercollective.com and BBC News

And possibly his biggest hoax of all, in 2010 he created a movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop" which was a documentary about Banksy and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary. But there is a lot of debate over whether the documentary is authentic or all fake.

Whether you think it is disrespectful or hilarious, it's great to see someone in the Art World with a sense of humor. Especially on a day like today!!

References/Articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/01/the-10-best-art-pranks_n_1388512.html
http://pranksters.com/historical-pranks/
http://www.complex.com/style/2014/04/banksy-hoaxes/#!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5335400.stm
http://www.woostercollective.com/post/a-wooster-exclusive-banksy-hits-new-yorks-most-famous-museums-all-of