The Branding of Iconogrphy: Making a career out of branding things already made by others

In the previous post I attempted to articulate how the artist  Haroshi has taken a pop culture icon like the Mac “Apple” and turned the idea of iconography inside out by attempting to overvalue the iconic image through the artwork  itself. I think he’s successful and makes an otherwise everyday icon brand into something with more inherent value. His comment on iconography is more meaningful then the image he attempts to copy, thus creating transformative iconography. But then there is this:

Southern California artist Daniel Douke (pronounced doo-kay) not to be confused with Dookie or Robin Williams’ comic genius concerning Gucci branding turds by painting three red strips on them for the wealthy class to salivate over .  However, turds do fall into various shades of brown and at times beige, so they could be accessorized with most clothing items.  Trendy art goers can wear it and  drink  it while gleaning pretentiously over  manufactured dookie or the co-opted branding of 3^rd world nation children with guns.

Portriat of a Young Libertarian by Shepard Fairey

Not only will we take a look at Douke's refinery, but also it is "Critique the Critic Day" @upstArt . Today's write up is by Victoria Dalkey (pronounced doll-key) not to be comfused with Douke.

”Since the 1970s, Douke has been making boxes and industrial objects that fool the eye into thinking they are real rather than meticulously rendered trompe l'oeil artworks. “ 



iMac by Douke

Basically by placing his work in a gallery/ museum, the public is thus trompe l’oeiled into thinking it is “art” rather than an object to be placed into the recycle bin once you have set up your imac.  The phrase “trompe l'oeil” is used here to elevate something that is far from interesting, or in other words refined puffery.  Just saying “real looking” doesn’t allow for the kind of elitist pastiche art critics are loved for. Without refined puffery and well, French words, any run of the mill community college student that took an art history class can make a living as an art critic. I’m all for adaptive reuse and minimizing my foot print though, so save the box and use it for a receptacle for your cat dookie.



iRefuse



Notice that the only place you’ll see this version of an imac is actually in a dumpster. Ironically and sadly, this “art” of co-opted branding is now fawned over while the original and once useful object has now been rendered obsolete in our ever tech obsessed world.  So is the artwork obsolete?

“Unfortunately, a lot of people simply walk into the room and walk right out without examining these objects carefully.”

 Or perhaps they are, and they know how irrelevant a counterfeit object is among the already mundaness of their lives. So the answer is yes.

“As artists such as Andy Warhol and Karen Shapiro have done, Douke elevates common commercial objects to the realm of art, reminding us that they are products of designers that epitomize our time.” 

“The degree of verisimilitude that Douke achieves is truly miraculous.”

Yes indeed stupefying. Is Douke like Warhol before him, the god of commodification and monetary profit? But how truthful is it to take a product that has already been vetted as marketable to the public, and then try to recommodify that product for your own personal gain in order to fool people? It’s quality branding and advertising, but is it “art?” Is it an ode to the actual designer?  I don't think so. I’d rather see an actual imac box in original condition under a plexi case with a statement from the original designers of the box. I want to know their ideas and their reasons for design.

 “Challenging our assumptions about reality and artifice, Douke's marvelously rendered "Boxes" epitomize our era and the development of electronic devices that promise a "utopian" future that ironically is profit-motivated.”

I know the main market force that persuaded me to buy into the “utopian” movement of Mac products was certainly to obtain a “utopian” standard of living with free pizza and rivers of flowing Pabst. 

A Warholian paean to hipsters

In reality, I happily traded over my hard earned dollars hoping that I was buying art that would only increase in value, but I got stuck with a constant discharge in battery power and a crappy internets connection. Yet, how ironic is it that a consumer product would demand profit? Furthermore, is it ironic to assume that art by Warhol, Koons and even Douke is  created to deliver a “Utopian” future and do we need it fêted with dead celebutants in hyper color,  balloon animals and  iMac boxes? I want that Utopia, thank god I can get it at any street corner MOMA.

But I'm a consumer and I want a utopia that is simultaniously product minded, eco freindly utilitarian and could be outfitted in every MOMA.  Thank god the genious of Marcel Duchamp lives on.  I give you the  R. Mutt that epitomizes our time, how we spend it and how we value art.

iPottie by Marcel Duchamp

 Lean to shuffle.

The Iconography of Branding.

Young artists of today love Andy Warhol except for his postmortem work of course. But thanks to Andy Warhol making money continues to be the new art. However, with or without him pop culture is a sure money maker. Pop culture is such a deep market that it allows “artists” such as Jeff Koons to make a living alongside stiff  competition.


Unabashed talent



Yet, I want to focus less on the super villains of pop art and more on artists that stretch beyond the confines of their assembly line profit mentality.  Jonathan LeVine Gallery has finally gotten it right this time with the exhibition of Japanese artist  Haroshi in the Future Primitive show. Haroshi breaks the redundant boundaries and limitations within tired pop art by not just commenting on objects, but transforming pop art into new organic representations. Haroshi creates what I call “Transformative Iconography,” essentially recreating representative iconography through the morphing or manipulation of branding with new modalities. This isn’t your grandma’s  soup can anymore.

Big Apple  Haroshi

His series “Apple” is not simply a co-opting of the apple icon and brand. He is not simply replicating an image; he is creating new representation through the symbolic nature of his work, craft and his own personal connection to his media.  His manner of production is influenced by culture tradition in much the same way that Japanese wooden Buddhas are constructed.  The layering of wood (used skateboard decks) in mosaic pattern gives a unique and ornate sculpture method to his work. Not to mention the history surrounding his used decks. To go a step future, the trendiness of being green also might score brownie points in a modern climate change context.

Nike SB Dunk Haroshi

Outwardly many of his artworks traditionally reveal how cultures place value on commodities and branded objects. Interestingly, these are constructed forms made accessible from other commodified objects completely unrelated to the constructed form, but inherent of his process and ideals of the iconography that he intends to relate to the viewer. What is fresh is what lies inside; these works have what he calls a “soul.” The true value lies within the object, a value constructed with material that the artist himself finds contextually significance. He places items unseen to the naked eye inside his works, which for the artist seem to transcend the observable and subjective nature of the work. Like the layers of skate board decks, his work is multi facetted.