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 Sally Bain is the CEO of Extra(ordinary)Mark. A marketing consultant, coach and trainer, she specializes in marketing solutions for extra(ordinary) individuals and groups whose work is defined by its uniqueness and, therefore, lack of ready made conduits for distribution. See also: www.sallybain.blogspot.com
Ready to Use
for ART
Making Artistic Intelligence
Sally Bain
Fig. 1 Peter Rosson, Product Emergency (call a doctor)
Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. During the hippie era people put down the idea of business – they'd say, 'money is bad' and 'working is bad', but making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art. - Andy Warhol
But in the back of my mind I heard distant feet. Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat. – Pet Shop Boys
'What's the use in art?' is the beginning of an essay I wrote early this century, draft one of the offering here before you. Needless to say most art lovers are horrified by this question; art is not a product, they argue, it should be exempt from commercial considerations. They have a point, but my fashion industry background, with its economically strong 'ready to wear', spectacularly promoting, protecting and funding its 'haute couture', has me wondering why we can't have both. A stunning commercial line as well as grand galleries filled with rare cultural artefacts. To this end I propose a Ready to Use for ART (RUA), which, in a nutshell, is a range of products and services based on artistic intelligence (AI).
The essay centres on a 21st Century cultural-commercial translation of visual art. I'll begin with Pop Art, this period having had such a remarkable impact on the art industry. Not that the RUA is an anti Pop statement, far from it, my argument being more along the lines of 'if you can't beat em join em'. Drawing on a diverse range of authors and disciplines: Robert Rosenblum on Pop Art, Peter Watson's historical eye for the modern art market, Walter Benjamin's notion of aura and Jean Baudrillard on the postmodern era of hyperreality and simulation, I would like to resituate something of the Pop Art influence in the contemporary market place. As a cultural-commercial structure able to liberate visual art, those that make it and not least it's effectiveness as an agent for human development. I complete with a working example, that being r&b creative individual – Peter Rosson and Sally Bain – products and services. Supported by Jean Gebser's cultural anthropology, I introduce AI as its core component.
Pop Art
It's been more than fifty years since the Pop Art revolution and given Andy Warhol, the most famous of its artists, consistently high auction house results it seems in no danger of losing popularity. 8 Elvises went for a cool 100,0 million in 2009 (Johnson 2009), the highest price paid for a Warhol since “Green Car Crash” at 71,720 million in 2007 (Essak 2007). More than big individual prices, however, Warhol, attended by his family of loyal collectors, keeps the market buoyant. In this New York season alone the artist brought in close to a third of the total sales at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillip de Pury (The Economist, 2011) – proof enough of the collectors continuing love affair with American Pop Art.
These boon figures are not as surprising as they might first appear. Pop Art doesn't require the collector to have a background in art history; what was once exclusive is now inclusive (Watson1992, p. 469). Hardly surprising, then, that it was under attack right from the very start, Pop Art was popular. But was it art?
Many condemned artists like Lichtenstein and Warhol for their ordinary subject matter. Larger than life comic strip characters and rows of Campbell soup cans were a dramatic departure from traditional pictorial forms. Yet Pop Art is not only defined by what is painted. It's as much defined, points out Robert Rosenblum, by how it's painted, 'otherwise, Manet's ale bottles, Van Gogh's flags and Bella's automobiles would qualify as Pop Art' (1965/1999, p. 186). Indeed, it was its blunt reproduction quality that made the high impact consumer statement – tasteless kitsch or provocative irony depending on the eyes – it was then and still is today.
The real Pop Artist not only likes the fact of his commonplace objects, but, more important, also exults in their commonplace look, which is no longer viewed through the blurred kaleidoscopic lenses of Abstract Expressionism, but through magnifying glasses of factory precision (Ibid p. 187).
Blunt realism aside, it was the seemingly commercial intent of its artists that was so disturbing to early audiences. Pop artists were seen as opportunists, 'hell bent on poisoning eternal aesthetics' (Rosenblum 1991/1999, p. 1999). Yet surely their popularity was coincidental; the great chain of art ready and waiting for that next link. Pop Art was a timely social response to the psychological gaze of the Abstract Expressionists, seating us in the uncomfortable gap between our high (art) ideals and our low (consumer) realities.
Like it or not Pop Art scooped the art world pool with its extraordinary mix of irony, media savvy and the business acumen of dealers like Castelli and artists like Warhol. Regardless of the controversy it wasn't long before it was accepted by the broader art industry. What choice did they have? The 60's realists well and truly met the ever-expanding post Second World War population, who insisted on a level playing field (Watson 1992, p. 470). Trouble is, it limited the options of those painting in less popular styles.
Pop Art presents a conundrum, an aesthetic wall if you like, which no one – artist, patron, dealer, historian and critic – can't quite get over. So much so that it's cultural statement seems set to continue its strong industry influence. How does an artist who paints the spectacular complexity of 'what could be' compete with the uncomplicated irony of Warhol's 'what is'? Watson may be right when he says that '… a whole book needs to be written about aesthetics in the wake of Pop Art; its significance has not yet been fully digested or understood' (Ibid p. 470). On closer inspection we might find that we've been looking at this the wrong way. Instead of running away from popularity, inclusion and commerciality perhaps we should embrace it. Lean into the punch, as it were.
The RUA holds that the contemporary visual artist, those with a mature signature, and the entrepreneur, those who posses equally mature economic vision, would do well to join forces and translate the commodity slice of the Pop Art pie. Manufacture a cultural-economic product, one with a use not just a reproduced image. I'm not suggesting that we reduce art to fit the blandest of visual-intellectual tastes. Rather that we apply it to give, traditionally, less commercial art the cultural influence it deserves. Protect the prime artefact by offering a product and service based on the AI that distinguishes rather than dismisses the artist. We have our work cut out for us.
Little orphan artwork
The entre point is origin. Walter Benjamin's groundbreaking 1920's essay, The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Reproduction, offers a cultural theory based on what he called the 'aura' of the original artefact, which, briefly, refers to the mystery that surrounds the singular ritual of the artist and the uniqueness of the object that results. The art industry was pretty much founded on origin, until the invention of photography, its reproduction technology making the once rare artefact available to everyone (Benjamin 1935-36/2008, p 21).
Time informed Benjamin's thesis. The aura being found to be not so much 'destroyed' as 'decentred'. Its separation from the object allowing the subjective mystery, surrounding the work of art, to be applied in its own service. Warhol's 1972 portrait of Mao Zedong offers a prime example. Warhol removed the image from its original context in his silkscreen painting, which he then copied for distributive purposes. Not unlike the Chinese although for entirely different reasons, or were they? This is the space we're left to explore… Not that it matters whether we like it or not, our task here is to locate the aura. It could be argued, but from the Pop Art appreciators stance it is still firmly in the hands of the artist. This is due, at least in part, to the distinctions made between the original Chinese, heavily reproduced, image of its leader, Warhol's portrait and its subsequent copies. Reverence underpins Warhol's irreverence. He's not the trouble.
The trouble with art reproduction is that the same techniques are available to everyone, not just the artist. Origin, and its meaning, not only left the object, it left the subject as well with the arrival of the technology to reproduce the quality image on posters, calendars, key rings, tea towels and coffee mugs... The potential profits of which, making any infringement of copyright worth the risk.
The whimsy of the trash or kitsch product is much loved by the postmodern sensibility (not for its uniqueness for its lack of). However, delightful or not without the artist as parent the image is reproduced at the expense of origin, which is lost in the commercially expedient translation. Trash can be good postmodern art, celebrating the loss of origin so well, but its not so good developmentally focused art. Indeed the search for the indefinable thrives on it.
What we're left with is the quality image separated from its lineage. Its product is not a translation of the original – where the AI has been mined for application – yet because it bears the surface resemblance it is mistaken as being a direct descendant. We may not like Warhol's 'commonplace look', the 'factory precision surfaces', but he, like any responsible parent, saw his children through to their graduation into multiplicity. Without the artist at the helm our visual shifts in perspective are had in an image disconnected from the original.
When we loose sight of the original it is impossible to navigate any further development. The artistic process end results. Jean Baudrillard who, identifying our dissociation from the real wrote, 'Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal' (1981, p.1). Like Neo – in the Wachowskis (1999) Matrix film – tourist visual art merchandise originates in the manufacturing template. They're disconnected products, rather than applications of the big art they seemingly represent.
That being said, it's not feasible to banish the bastard products. People want to purchase affordable representations, even if they only look like they are. Besides they serve a function. They psychosocially anchor the attendance of a grand exhibition. Moreover – and here's the point – we shouldn't let the horror get in the way of the opportunity. The gap between the high art and the low product is a cultural-commercial space; one ready and waiting to be occupied by a translation of the 'what could be?' focused artist.
This is not to say that the artist who paints 'what is?' wouldn't also make a quality Pop Art application, but surface irony, alone, isn't enough to make a product and create a service able to locate a market place. The RUA translation centres on provenance, an originality that runs deep. Although we only have the Rosson example so far, it's clear that AI doesn't lie.
AI (fictoreality)
Structural Integrity (Si) is the r&b creative individual translation of Rosson's ART (Bain 2011a). The process was to capture something of his creative essence, the origin of the gift if you will. Impossible to go back that far with any accuracy, I deconstructed Rosson in order to locate something of the always already AI. I found development.
Rosson's consciousness is illustrated in the some 500 prime artefacts. I took the lead from Jean Gebser's integral interpretation of Pablo Picasso's extraordinary body of work (1949/1959, p. 26). Rosson's art also falling into distinct integrating phases of artistic evolution. The later World Mandala was the watershed. Similar to Picasso's 1930's portraits, this remarkable structure held the AI of every period in one simple frame. Further contemplation and development research yielded a six-phase (or 5 plus a ground) structure, emulating his method of construction and looking a lot like the Great Chain of Being, at the heart of the Mandalas extraordinary structure (Bain 2000). This I then translated into Si, a signifier, model and simulation for personal and social development.
Si is first and foremost a signifier. Its model and simulation translations more like a television series, film or video game – with the associated, culturally enriching, fantasy and play – than a formal model of psychosocial development. Here, r&b creative individual is 'exploring meaning' through story rather than 'establishing norms' through research. The method is centred in fictive possibility in the way it cuts realism with mystery and visa versa to offer breakthrough awareness. What we might call fictoreality. Think of your favourite TV show; not just how its delights, but how its cultural-imaginative therapy contributes to your development.
The fictoreality translation offers both a personal – psych(ic) space – and cultural –the social narrative – application (Bain 2011a). These are phase specific development(al) simulations that allow us to fly (explore fantasy) with precision and land (live realistically) with great care. Rosson's AI is ready to use, its deconstruction having prepared it to be now reconstructed in product and service form.
The Product (a spoonful of sugar)
The product is a pack of (playing) cards. Its creation was quite simple; I just took the images off a Rosson World Mandala and played with them. I called it the r&b ART Oracle. From there, I formalized the play into a series of processes and techniques – Si's simulation – combining life coaching and Tarot with the clients, life and world the focus. This became the 'life profile', which we will return to shortly.
The r&b ART Oracles 'use' is the psychosocial dialogue created from the exploration of the image and its symbolic content – revealing strengths and weaknesses in an entertaining way. This is largely due to its part-whole structure, which in a Tarot process encapsulates multiple-screen, digitally symbolic, storytelling. The psych(ic) pith is found in the interpretive editing of the narrative essentials. There is an actual digital application – The New (Moon) Project Development (ask the ART Oracle).
The New (Moon) Project Development gives the client online, and soon to be digital app(lication), access to the oracle at any time wherever they are. The featured Word ART is a translation of Rosson's own provocative (and much loved) use of text – painting titles and visual words imbedded in the body of the artworks. Their psychosocial function is to interrupt the space between the visual and the interpretation, the two or three words captivating and engaging the client like a clap of the hands, some loud some soft and some in between. What I call Tarot Interpolation (Bain 2011b).
Peter developed the visual art before he died. Subsequently they're several ART Oracle translations of the Rosson aesthetic. 'It's not a representation of the Tarot. The deck is an application of the artist's body of work, rather than an interpretation of the 78 trumps of the Tarot or, in this case, the 56 cards of the playing deck. This is an important, albeit nuanced, distinction for two reasons. Firstly the Art Oracle fails in the Tarot genre, not sticking to the rules nearly well enough, and secondly it isn't in keeping with the RUA guidelines, which is to apply the AI translation not to fit it in to another cultural practice. This is certainly not to denigrate the Tarot deck or the art of creating them; clearly the 78-symbol system is a mighty influence.
The Service (helps the medicine go down)
It's one thing to have a product, but without an associated service there is no cultural-economic translation. Publishing without distribution does not a RUA make. There were issues to address. One was to create a service that would showcase the r&b ART oracle, and the unique, visually based, processes and interpretive techniques. Another was to synthesize life coaching with Tarot. The 'life profile' was the result.
A life profile is an essentials look at the way we love, work & play. By focusing on the clients past, present and (potential) future lives, the profiler identifies the extraordinary qualities common to each time zone - it's like the brief story of the persons stunning experiences, starring the multiple intelligences that propel us forward. The word 'profile' comes from the Latin filum, meaning 'thread' (Oxford Dictionary 2011), which is exactly what is identified... threads of life experience that when followed lead to deep corners of the psyches labyrinth. What the psychologists call the shadow. Once there the Si profiler zaps it with psych(ic) light and grounds it within the social narrative – the now situated awareness transforming the shadow into creative gold.
The service, and therefore marketing potential was upmost in my mind as the life profile offers a 'one off', try before you commit, to ongoing coaching. Affordably priced, it allows the client to see if the coach, not just the model, fits. It offers the chance to get a shift in perspective – what I like to call a 'mind cocktail' – that only comes from experiencing different coaches and their methods.
Conclusion
I've presented the idea of creating a product and service translation of AI. The intention is to offer much-needed definition to the developmentally focused artist while providing the consumer with a way to use artistic smarts in daily life. This is not to replace the grand exhibition rather to enhance it by extending the experience into the broader market place. Fresh promotion for the artist, and the gallery model would be a reasonable expectation.
The question as to whether we need a RUA is another matter. There are concerns. It might give those with more commercial skill than artistic talent undue importance. But given the forty-year wake of Pop Art derivatives it seems we're already there, in which case a commercial line can assure that the integrity of the prime artefact is not only protected, but its existence showcased by the distinction made between it and its popular application – a good thing in anyone's book.
Reference List
Bain, S 2000, Sally's Story, R&B Creative Individual, Sydney.
Bain, S 2011a, Structural Integrity (Si), Integral World, viewed September 1st 2011, http://www.integralworld.net/bain1.html
Bain, S 2011b, Tarot Interpolation, viewed September 1st, 2011, http://sallybain.blogspot.com/2011/07/p.html
Benjamin, W 1935-36/2008, 'The Work of Art in the Age if Its Technological Reproducibility: Second Version', in Jennings, M, Doherty, B and Levin, T. (ed.) The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility, and other Writings on Media, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Massachusetts and England.
The Economist, 2011, The Wizards of the Warhol Market, viewed, September 1st 2011, http://www.economist.com/node/21517133
Essak, S. 2007, Green Car Crash Quadruples Warhol Price Record, viewed September 1st 2011, http://www.arthistory.about.com/b/a/257821.htm.
Gebser J, 1949-53/1985,The Ever-Present Origin, Trans. Noel Barstad and Algis Mickunas. Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio.
Johnson, A 2009,The $100m Warhol: Unique Print Projects Pop Artist into top-10 Sellers List, viewed October 25th 2011, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/the-100m-warhol-1830661.html
Rosenblum, R 1965/1999 'Pop Art and Non-Pop Art', in On Modern American Art: Selected Essays, Harry M. Abrams, New York, reprinted from Art and Literature, vol. 5, pp. 80-93.
Rosenblum, R 1991/1999, 'Roy Lichtenstein: Past, Present, Future' in On Modern American Art: Selected Essays, Harry M. Abrams, New York, reprinted from Artstudio 20, pp. 34-43.
Watson, P 1992, From Manet to Manhattan: The Rise of the Modern Art Market, Random House, New York.
Art
Rosson, P 1994, Product Emergency (call a doctor), 122X122cm. Acrylic on board, collection of Peter Rosson ART.
Art Translation
'P Rosson & S Bain, 2009 The New (Moon) Project Development, viewed 27th October 2011,
http://randbcreativeindividual.melbourneitwebsites.com/page/asktheartoracle.html
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