[Brand × Artist] Collaborations

FROM HIGH ART TO HIGH TOPS : THE IMPACT OF [ BRAND × ARTIST ] COLLABORATIONS WORD S A NYA FIRESTO N E On the world-map of today’s creative brands, we increasingly find Margiela. That art is being called upon as branding’s new muse, and collaborations with art — contemporary or otherwise — where × signifies a drive to create something more complex than that which marks the spot: can be achieved through fashion. It is logical that this nouveau artistic collaborative wave hits hard Don Perignon × Jeff Koons today, an epoch when magic is no longer required to see almost Perrier × Andy Warhol anything and everything thanks to the world’s new beloved fairy Supreme × Damien Hirst godmother: #socialmedia. With the advent of digital platforms comes Raf Simons × Sterling Ruby the collective impulse to display not only a style, but perhaps more COMME des GARÇONS × Ai Weiwei importantly, lifestyle. Look at any creative company’s Instagram and Lacoste × Zaha Hadid we find not only pictures of its gadgets and gizmos, but a cultivated Opening Ceremony × René Magritte existence around them — tastes and sensibilities, filtered through adidas × Jeremy Scott “Keith Harring” specific lenses: urban landscapes, graffiti, perfectly frothed lattes, Pharell’s hat, Kanye’s pout, and various other facades of society And so the formula of [Brand by Artist] is written, etched onto that visually amalgamate to project a brand’s metaphysical culture skateboards and sneakers, from H&M to Hermés, on Perignon to in time and space. Perrier, strutting down catwalks and stacking grocery aisles at a prolific It is no wonder then why brands are increasingly seduced by art; rate. While art’s value continues to rise in its own market (this past it is not only a visual cultural product but also a producer of culture November, a Christie’s auction brought in a record-breaking $850 itself. Therefore, alignment with it can potentially procure not only an million for 75 lots of contemporary art), today it is stepping onto a image, but also the imaginary – power, history, philosophy, a moment, new stage. Popular culture figures like Jay Z, who refers to himself a mojo – and all the conceptual sophistication that art entails. Of as a “modern day Picasso,” help to usher in the trend by articulating course, granted its notorious high costs in its own fancy marketplace, the creative zeitgeist to possess, see and experience fine art: a product’s financial value can also increase when associated with “I wanna row of Christie’s with my missy, live at the MoMA/Bacons art. This last point is especially true of partnerships where the artist’s and turkey bacons, smell the aroma.” (A piece of Jay’s “Bacon,” hand is actually present, like on a hand-painted canvas parka by Raf Francis Bacon’s 1961 painting Seated Figure sold for $45 million at Simons × Ruby Sterling from their Fall 2014 collaboration. Such an the aforementioned auction). item, which raises the question is it art or fashion?, also manages to With artists’ names being dropped as often as (and often with) raise its cost — egging us on to answer that it’s likely closer to art, sneaker drops, we cannot dismiss the phenomenon as an ephemeral by virtue of its $30,000 price tag. hyper-trend, nor label it another Warholian revolution. For while we That high fashion and high art occupy the same space is old may hem and haw if we are convinced by the effects of these artsy news (here, we think happily about Schiaparelli’s dress with a Dali collaborations in mainstream markets — do they upgrade a brand? lobster crawling on its front). The new news is that high streetwear, Do they undermine art? —the fact remains that these liaisons, sneakers, tech, and even beverage brands are putting on their berets dangerous or otherwise, are not only influencing the retail world, to paint a pretty picture with artists. While it’s clear how a brand’s L A N D S CAPE WITH C H A RON C ROSSING THE RIVER STYX ( C . 1515-1524) BY J O ACHIM PA TINIR but art history itself. Damien Hirst’s iconic butterfly artwork, fluttering look and reputation may appear “upgraded” post-collaboration, we from museum conversations and onto Converse sneakers, may signify might wonder now about the original art itself. What happens when art’s natural and unavoidable evolution in contemporary culture. art jumps off of its museum pedestal, lands down onto Jay Z’s stage, On a superficial level, it is easy to appreciate why any brand and then Ubers over to the Gap pop-up store at the Frieze Art Fair? would want to join forces with an artist – an icon known for creating The answer, may not be so pretty. While mainstream brands may visually stimulating, unique objects. Strategic branding is, after all, be jumping for joy over its beautiful business muse, art is left with heavily reliant upon producing aesthetic magnetism and a distinctive, its historic tale between its legs, looking back at a rack of Basquiat- effective “image.” Yet if they were only after launching top-tier style, doodled Uniqlo T-shirts, wondering where its future, quite literally, brands could continue to team up with cutting edge fashion houses, will hang next. brushing the dirt off the shoulders of a… what’s that jacket? H&M × 236 F R O M HIGH ART T O HIGH TOPS F R O M HIGH ART T O HIGH TOPS 237 “THESE LIAISONS, DANGEROUS OR OTHERWISE, ARE NOT ONLY INFLUENCING THE RETAIL WORLD, BUT ART HISTORY ITSELF.” When H&M announced its first artist collaboration in 2014 with scale, materials and composition, his sculpture visibly distinguishes As art today faces a similar contemporary culture shock as it did inventory. Firstly, it takes as its subject a mass-manufactured object: the renowned Jeff Koons, coiffed eyebrows across the art world itself from the commodity upon which it is based, palpably claiming: in the 19th century, brands should learn from its history by turning to the lightbulb. But unlike Koons who created something after the were raised — ironically, by the same gallerinas who were lured into I am Art. So then how terribly ironic it is, how critically amusing, the curatorial once more. Let us be mindful that today, “curating” has idea of an everyday thing in order to differentiate itself from it, this the retailer’s doors when it partnered with fashion houses like Lanvin that an art whose very essence is to declare itself as anything but become an overused and hackneyed term. In actuality, one cannot installation actively uses that object to create anew. Within a retail and COMME des GARÇONS’ Rei Kawakubo to create cost-effective a mass-produced object, would end up printed and sold upon one! curate a pizza nor one’s Facebook timeline in the full and proper sense location, this art installation boldly acknowledges mass-production, lines. But art would be different. Adapting high-end garments to be From an art theoretical viewpoint, H&M, intending to manipulate a of the word. In the museological platform from which it originated, but then exquisitely defies it by displaying the way by which that ready-to-wear could not follow the same logic as high art becoming, “limited edition” good to become obtainable “art” into the collective curation entails the placement and mediation of objects across object can be reconfigured into a sphere of art. And is this not what… ready-to-see? For H&M × Koons, the attempt to transport consciousness, instead yields an object that overtly announces itself a space. It is the conceptualization and management of aesthetics, precisely what the goal of [Brand × Artist] is? Ah, the lightbulb really art’s psychological baggage onto a special product resulted, quite as the opposite, art’s nemesis: pure commodity. usually art, based on the curator’s predetermined ideas for the effects does signify a good idea. literally, as baggage itself: a leather bag with a printed image of the Perhaps Koons was in on the joke all along. Perhaps not. Either that will arise at the moment of retinal reception. Another strong example of a well-curated approach to artist’s Toy Balloon Dog (Yellow) sculpture on its front. To which we, way, it is clear that the challenge to make a powerful [Brand × Artist] So if a curator is able to strategize objects to be art, as well as [Brand × Artist] is KITH’s New York SoHo store. Like UNDERCOVER, on behalf of art history, are obliged to ask: what is that messenger collaboration is as follows: how can a brand elevate and enhance to protect art from being commodified, then should brands not be KITH collaborated with artists not to make their products, but to bag truly the messenger of? itself and its products through art, without art being commodified following a curatorial approach when attempting to use it? In other make art around them. In a similar mode by which the lightbulb According to the store’s website, it is affordable art: “If you can’t and the artist undermined in the process? words, may we be so bold as to suggest that the best way for installation operates, Daniel Arsham’s hanging ceiling installation afford a $58 million dog sculpture, why not have the next best Historically, this is not the first time art found itself threatened due to a brand to work with art is not through collaboration but rather composed of a slew of all-white Air Jordan 1 sneaker molds, thing?” But is this bag really the next best thing? Likely not, and how the advent of modern consumerism.

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