As part of our series on the fallout from from the Arts Council's funding decisions, we hear from artist Stuart Semple about his experiences of collaborating with big brands.
I've never had the luxury of having a mate who knows the right Arts Council application boxes to tick in order to dupe them into thinking it'll get a marginalised community off the sofa and carrying lanterns in a parade. In fact I'm not convinced there have been many artists who have benefited directly from support at all; in my opinion government funding can often mean shelving the art for art's sake attitude in favour of trying to fulfil funding criteria. To me art is culturally, socially and spiritually vital, and any government that really cares about those it governs should keep it right at the top of the agenda.
Here though I want to focus a bit on brand involvement in the arts. That’s not to say that I believe entrepreneurs should be ready to pick up the production tab, but, having worked with Levis, Umbro, Selfridges, Moncler, Aubin & Wills and others over the years, I do know from personal experience that win-win situations can exist in collaborations between artist and brand. I’m not talking about flimsy sponsorship, ie logos stuck on cultural output to claim a marketing demographic. I’m dubious of that; I’m talking about genuine creative collaboration.
For me, I’ve always been focused on the dissemination of art and audience engagement – I believe art needs to be more accessible. With that in mind brand involvement often makes sense. Post-recession we need to give brands some respect for continuing their arts initiatives (which rarely ever generate direct profit) in light of diminishing sales margins. Creativity often works well for both sides; in fact the more subtle the brand intervention, and the more creative freedom, often the more successful the result.
Nowadays, I often have to fight commercial galleries on more conceptual ideas, for their lack of 'saleability'. With brand collaborations I normally find the opposite. My relationship with Moncler is a case in point: they’ve surprised me many times, creatively they are unflinching and I admire their fashion shows. During the Salone del Mobile, I made paintings for their Milan flagship and when I got there they had restocked the entire store in Via della Spiga to match the colour palette in my pictures. That bought it home to me: it wasn’t about making work to fit the clothes, it was the other way round. That night they enabled me to let off thousands of pink smiling foam eco-clouds outside the Scala in conjunction with Vogue and the mayor. It really worked – it was a piece of public art that genuinely lifted the atmosphere. I could never have made that without someone like them. Since then I’ve brought art into their store in NYC and next is Tokyo and Vienna. We also collaborated on an art event at Art Basel that was great fun.
I suppose the deepest relationship of them all is with Aubin and Wills, who have pushed the brand-art relationship to a place few would be brave enough to go. I opened a gallery in east London with them – it's a true labour of love and total dream come true. I could never have operated a 3,000 square foot space in Redchurch Street off my own back. Since last May we've seen what I believe are eight fantastic shows, we've shown some unbelievable artists and I’ve been in a position to take risks. I'm not keeping an eye on the rent, I'm showing the best art and working with the best curators I can find. I think the repercussions of that are huge: for the community, for young artists and for the audience. We are all really proud of what we are doing over there. A lot of heart has gone into it in the form of a real love of art from their CEO and creative director.
It’s time for the art world to shelve the stigma of working with commercial brands and understand the creative potential. It doesn’t have to be trashy; there can be real innovation. Artists have always found ways to make things happen, and seize an audience for their work. It’s the impulse we have – to take what’s around us and combine it to make more than we started with. For me, brands have become a huge part of that, but I know I’ll only ever collaborate with the ones I can love.
Stuart Semple, artist
www.stuartsemple.com
www.aubingallery.com
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Image credit: Making HappyClouds with Moncler in Piazza Scala for Salone Del Mobile.
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