Art and Advertising
Art is a deeply personal inspection of the world around us as we know it, as we perceive it. Where, the doubtful concepts of reality rarely intrude. Sometimes it is abstract, sometimes surreal, sometimes beautiful but oftentimes it is what it is. I believe art is the true history of the world and artists the world’s only truth historians.
Consider the primary forms of art, visual (painting, photography, filmography), sound (music) and writing (poetry, prose), all of them evoke an emotional response engaging the audience. This is where art and advertising collide and a sort of event horizon is born between the two. Advertising too uses the same three forms to engage.
Art is the core of advertising, it is the protein that make up the advertising genes and while art will vehemently shy away from commercialization it is beyond question that advertising has done it’s lions share in the propagation of art. Consider Michelangelo’s painting and sculpting, consider any of the greats, where would their work be without the patronage of advertising greatness!
Look beyond the veil of propagandized advertisements and you will find the truth of a war, the illusion of democracy or the failure of an economy hidden in those same advertising. Of-course advertising is shrouded in lies, after-all it’s the medium through which propaganda is spread and the mind is made susceptible to control.
But the people who create them are still people who have a story to tell and if you look closely, the stories have truth in them. Just a little hidden. That’s the art of advertising and that’s what advertising should be about: the truth.
Creativity and imagination are the twin pillars on which both art and advertising shits, eats and sleeps, and the fact is, the advertising industry employs more creatively gifted people and artists than any other industry today. Why do you think they eventually find themselves choosing advertising? Fortunately not because of compromised artistic integrity. And what the fuck is artistic integrity anyway! No artist in the world ever had that or spoke of it.
There is a difference between art and advertising, an integral one: product! Advertising is driven by it while art has none. The tragedy in all this is that art itself is a product.
But there exists a beautiful similarity too between the two: purpose! Advertising’s purpose is to be reflected in you, while art’s purpose is in your reflection!
