The Art of Business
“Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” -Andy Warhol
If you have heard of Andy Warhol, you might know that he did the soup cans and the portraits. But I need to tell you why his work really is interesting and worth your consideration.
I have always been fascinated not only by Andy Warhol, the artist, but Andy Warhol, the person. He was remarkably talented, an ingenious man who, in his entire public lifetime had one, and only one, genuinely original idea. And in his hands, that idea became a tremendously interesting one.
He understood that success in the modern world requires not just talent and hard work, it requires business savvy. There’s a reason that Warhol’s name is synonymous with Pop Art, much more so than any of his contemporaries. For one thing, he was as focused on the business side of art as he was in the creation of colorful paintings and prints and, wisely enough, he realized the importance of having a distinctive and consistent brand.
New working model for Artists
Warhol developed a technique which allowed him to trace and copy images and create a delicate blotted line. It was an early instance of his affinity for automation or finding other people or processes that do the work for and with him, he was determined to make it in the field of so-called fine art. He believed business and art actually do very much belong together. Warhol didn’t call his place in New York A STUDIO, the prestigious term used by artists since the beginning to describe their place of work. Instead, he called it THE FACTORY. He understood the very core of how industry, society, and economics can come together.
Commercialization of Art
He once said “What’s great about this country is, America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good.”
Andy pointed out that wherever in the world you go coke is always the same and it’s always quite nice. Art is generally not been able to live
up to this ideal of being good and widely distributed. Artists make a few
things but only a few people ever get to own them. Most art doesn’t have much of an impact keen on large-scale impact.
The lesson Warhol taught our generation is that mass production needs to apply beyond making prints and other kinds of high art. We need the organizing, commoditizing and branding powers of a business. He understood that to be successful in a market, one should be conscious about maintaining a brand image. He turned his work into a globally recognized brand. Warhol’s interest in the mass consumerism that overtook American society in the late 1960s and 1970s, it comes as no surprise that his iconic picture of an oversized can of Campbell’s Beef Noodle Soup is granted the same reverence as the Hollywood stars that Warhol immortalized in bright hues.
The future
Now successful brands tap into this collective urge to create lasting bonds between the customer and the brand. Competitive brands of all kinds are trying to attract and grow a social media following across all of the relevant platforms. More and more, follows and likes are the measure of success and brand loyalty, and it’s incumbent upon us, as a business owner or marketer, to create content that engages our community and adds value to consumers’ life. The days of the standard advertisement are quickly fading. Global brands are becoming artists, creating arresting and immersive canvases that draw their consumers back again to delight and engage with brand messaging.
Warhol got his start selling product illustrations to advertisers and department stores. He was really good at it and achieved a high level of commercial success before he became a pop art icon, by bending linear thoughts of consumerism into an artistic pretzel. He intentionally blurred the line between commerce and art. Warhol was never afraid of business, he actually saw it as part of his art. And to that end — his art has proven to be very good business.
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