Looking at Swiss artist Nic Hess‘ 2004 light-box work “m&m+M=3M” I’m totally struck but what I’m gathering was probably the biggest part of it’s intended meaning: an alarmist poke at the omnipresence of corporate advertising and perhaps a subversive allusion that all companies are the same. Got it.
What really strikes me, though, is that I also think that if you showed this to anyone working in the Brand departments for any of these companies that they would fucking totally love it. Because if an artist recognizes your logo (and a logo to a brand is like tits to a porn star) and agrees that there’s enough general cultural recognition of it to create a piece of art out of it, that means… there’s enough general cultural recognition to create a piece of art out of it!
A.K.A. – everyone knows our logo. Which, to a brand, is nirvana. It’s like Warhol and Campbell’s. Regardless of what Warhol may or may not have been saying about the actual nature of branding, consumption, and society, that soup can was seen everywhere. To some, it’s an iconic piece of art. To others, it’s an iconic piece of logo. Tom-a-to, Tom-ah-to.
Via Wrong Distance
shape+colour 