Business Articles

Culturally Connected Business? You need the 'Warhol' effect

Andy Warhol; An exocentric artist and film maker. Cambell's soup, Marylyn Monroe and The Oxidation Paintings. One of Andy’s most famous paintings is of Chairman Mao, the Chinese dictator, however less famous is Warhol’s inability to spell Mao’s name. Those who know this fact consider it to be a simple lack of knowledge and ignorance for details, on the other hand it has been said that Warhol’s ‘ignorance for detail” is down to the sharp business man that lies beyond his cool, artistic cover.

All those linked to Warhol saw him as businessman but many choose to ignore it, and even Warhol himself has described his work as ‘business art’. However the period of Andy’s art was one of anti-establishment-pop-art-coolness, associating himself with popular figures of the time such as Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and even John Lennon. Warhol was cunning. The capability to socialize and connect with the New York elite through his workspace (‘the factory’), and create artwork for legends of the era such as Mick Jagger and Marylyn Monroe, whilst maintaining a high profit low overhead business creating art work for power figures such as Nixon, Carter and Ted Kennedy is something to be admired. Warhol’s works weren’t cheap and those knocking at the door to have there image captured weren’t short or a penny or two, however Warhol’s closest ‘friends’ were social drop outs, students of art, and lurkers, with pretty much nothing. Warhol kept these people close to preserve his much practised persona of cool. Warhol was a millionaire at the time of his death; he didn’t accomplish this by being anti-establishment, but nevertheless managed to keep both sides happy.

How many businesses or brands do you know that can achieve this with the same intensity as Warhol? (Answers on a post card) Keeping the cool-trendy-masses happy whilst maintaining a profitable business empire is something we’d all like to know how to do. Ok. So Nike have a nice little nest egg of money for a rainy day and seem to keep most areas of society in favour, but when you’ve got masked hippies throwing bottles at your world HQ every other month, you know your missing something. It’s possible that Nike don’t care, however they go to an awful lot of effort trying to prove that there not the centre of western capitalism. Then there is the other end of the scale, me, Rebelo. Street artists (Many under the influence of Warhol) would crack skulls (as many of them do) before letting their art be turned in to a branding tool or advertisement stunt. Some artists command high prices for artwork at exhibitions and through online dealers, some give the work away for free, and most are happy that their work can be seen on the street. But they all have in common there distrust in business and fear of their integrity dribbling down the drain.

So where does that leave me? I need their art for my products, they (being most the talented) demand prices for their designs that would make Saatchi and Saatchi blush, I want to mass produce my products for chain stores and advertise the street art brand, but they don’t want to sell out and decide to stop giving me their art. We can’t blame them, its their nature, we can’t blame the rise of big corporations and anti-capitalist trends, true the time of Warhol has passed but not that much has changed. Power figures on one side, rock stars on the other, the way it’s always been. But I need my designs and I NEED my profit. Enter Banksy (see www.banksy.co.uk) one of, if not, the most famous graffiti artist of the last decade. Brighton, London, New York, Paris and even the West Bank! Banksy’s art is every where, if you haven’t seen it on the cover of a newspaper or the real thing on a wall or in a subway you must be blind. For those in the graffiti community and even marketing executives who wish they could, Banksy is a celebrity and for some bigger than Christ.

The Warhol effect. Banksy claims that no one close to him (other than those with street art connections) have knowledge of his ‘crimes’, he notoriously claims that his parents believe him to be a painter and decorator. Increasing his integrity ten fold, the NYC and London museum high jackings are some of Banksy’s greatest triumphs proving he can ‘stick it to the man’ and the cover of Blurs 2003 album ‘Think Tank’ and all respective singles, one of Banksy’s most profitable and high profile commercial works earning him professional fame. Wait. That’s not very anti-establishment, neither is a £25,000 canvas or a Puma underground ad campaign. This didn’t go un-noticed by the close knit graffiti community when someone sprayed “Banksy is a f**king sell out!” across his warehouse gallery in north London, however amongst most he is still considered a icon and a legend. It is also rumoured that Banksy had committed to many more commercial projects since this, however refuses to use the name tag these as Banksy pieces at risk of further retaliation against his art. His commercial disguise isn’t perfect, after all choose Banksy, chose his unique style; you can spot it from a mile away.

The Lesson. This isn’t about art, call it what you want, deceit, cunning, spin or natural business acumen, Warhol had, and Banksy has, a marketing and promotion skill you can’t get a degree in or learn from a book. They have something that I certainly wish I had, they have something I imagine allot of culturally connected business wish they had, the power to appeal to all whilst maintained integrity high profit success. Lots of businesses have tried to replicate this from the Mars Corporation to Diesel and Replay (“Its Geldof on the phone he says ‘Support Live 8!’ or he’s going to send some protesters round with bill boards and dreadlocks) but to be honest they’ve failed. Marketing companies like Cunning Stunts have tried, come close, and then lost their bottle. So what’s the lesson? Truthfully there isn’t one. Unless you’re going to put your balls on the line like Banksy or becoming über cool like Warhol and at the same time mask your business acumen and corporate connections, you’re not going to accomplish much. You can put your hand in the hat and lucky dip integrity, or profit, but short of choosing one or the other you’re stuck. What you can do is take away inspiration and hope that if your business gets trapped in the middle like Rebelo (or even Nike) Banksy will come to your assistance. If you do manage to work it out call me, in the mean time I’m going out to spray paint some rock stars on police cars, if my mum asks “I’m in a meeting”.

(Read here http://www.afflictedyard.com/banksy.htm and please read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy)

Lee Simpson is the owner of Rebelo - street art and design inspired clothing

 

 

All articles reproduced with permission from This Is Your Business