by mendhak

Branding art and artists

Report: Branding art and artists

Art is not just an expression of creativity anymore. It is now in the big league, with corporate practices and standards being adopted to make art and artists sell. From creating interest in the artist’s life, to whipping up a hoopla about his or her eccentricities, art is more or less, a public relations exercise these days

Recently I visited an art exhibition of a young artist in a reputed art gallery of Delhi. It was the last day of the exhibition and I requested for an art piece. The artist said she had no work left and all the paintings were sold. I was curious and surprised. How could young artists’ sell all their works in such short periods? Later the gallery owner confirmed that it was a mere branding stunt and none of the pieces were sold. The reply was just to create hype and attract attention towards an ‘artist’s branding’. Comments renowned art curator Alka Raghuvanshi, “branded artists, branded galleries, and branded collectors. That’s the trend today. Art will sell for crores if the artist is a brand. While “branding” might be new to the art world, the way business gets done in the gallery auction-museum world has been around for centuries.”

Shares another critic on the condition of not disclosing his name, “Artists are trying all sorts of tricks like hoarding and rationing of their own paintings in order to create hype, attention, and branding. Most of the artists are focussed on carving more canvasses than a quality art piece.” The word brand considered to be a part of the corporate jargon, is inherently visual—brand logos, product design, packaging, brand identity, and brand marketing campaigns each drawn upon visual materials to create distinctive brand images. But today, the power of brand is felt in the art world too. The successful artists can be thought of as brand managers, actively engaged in developing, nurturing, and promoting themselves as recognizable products in the competitive culture sphere. Reveals PR company owner Bhupesh Kumar, “I have been working closely with the artists for some time now. The trend of hiring PR companies is becoming common among the art fraternity. Now the artists do not just hire us for organising their exhibitions and pulling in the niche and celeb guests for the event; we have become their brand managers”. Bhupesh Kumar adds, “the role involves understanding the personality of artists and projecting him or her accordingly in the right places. It is important that they are seen in the related events at the right time, in the right company. For example, if the artist’s portfolio or subject is wildlife, we make sure he attends all events related to wildlife conservation, shares panel with organisations working for animal welfare like PETA and others.” So what are the factors that decide a particular image of the artist? “It is the artist’s own persona and the paintings that reflect his style and USP (unique selling proposition) help us in deciding the right image to be created. Be it spiritual, expressive, landscapist or others. More visible the artist is in the market and public domain, more popular he becomes. We even monitor their media interviews, dressing, kind of painting to canvass (expressive, landscapes, wildlife, realistic, abstract etc.). The subject has to be publicly accepted, appreciated with a strong commercial point of view”, says Bhupesh.

Reveals Pooja, PR executive of Perfect Relations, “no matter how much and however you brand an artist, at the end, the artist has to be good in what he is projected. Else he will fade away. No efforts can sustain the artist without extraordinary talent.”

Informs Keya Kullar, owner, art village online gallery, “for popularity and calculated branding, it is indispensable to be visible in public eye through shows in maximum number of galleries at maximum number of places. This requires exhibitions in the domestic and international galleries.”

While need for branding and PR is catching up in the art fraternity, several prominent artists are already being served as case studies to illuminate the potential for insights into the interconnections between art, branding, and consumption. Among the latest trends of branding is contribution of the works to leading social organisations, trusts, charitable funds and NGOs. Quips Annie Mathai, co-founder, art village online gallery, “Societies like the Spastic Society organise art exhibitions with the purpose of fund raising. Leading artists either donate their paintings or contribute a percentage of the price at which painting is sold. Initially it started as a helping gesture by the art fraternity. But now it has caught on as the latest trend. Mediocre artists today rush to give their works for free so that they can be counted among the club of the top league artists. Even MF Hussain, considered to be the institution of art sold his 100 paintings for crores even after being established, as a systematic and calculated step towards branding.”

But once a painting is sold in crores, does it fetch crores for every painting of the artist? Informs Alka Raghuvanshi, art curator, “One can step up the ladder to high priced paintings but survival is yet another struggle. Paresh Maitey has made some of the most beautiful figuratives in water, oil, acrylics. His paintings have sold in lakhs. But for how long? Initially even artist Harshvardhan was considered safe investment. His work sold in lakhs and the artist was catapulted to fame. But who is buying him now?”

The art galleries and auction houses may rake in money once. But survival of the artist as brand is sheer luck later. Artist Subodh Gupta was supported heavily by a group of investors abroad and art galleries. It is after that the artist becomes part of the highest priced league of artists that investors look for winning horses. Any major brand strategy decision involves major decisions like brand positioning, brand name selection, brand sponsorship and brand development. These tools are used to brand an artist too where the PR firms does the brand positioning and brand name selection and later, the corporates, investors and auction houses play the role of brand sponsors and work hand in hand towards brand development of the artist. There have been instances, when a painting is bought at a certain high price in a fake name either by the artist himself or by the auction house or the investor to create hype about the artist in order to brand him as a high priced artist worth investing in. Then there are certain artists like Sanjay Bhattacharya who besides producing fine art works possess excellent PR skills that helps in their own branding. Even Anjolie Ela Menon became a stalwart with sheer talent and getting right paintings noticed at the right time. It did not involve any fancy acts.

But then there are several other artists who tried every bit to catch media attention and to remain in spotlight. Artist Julius wears lehengas and skirts in all public visits just to catch public attention and continue being the talk of the town if not for work. The artist couple Nupur Kundu and Subrata Kundu are a Page-3 staple today. They make sure they are visible in most of the Page 3 parties and attend events that glitter with a guest list of celebrities. Another source that refuses to be named reveals, “gifting works to media guys, luring photographers with expensive gifts, bureaucrats and important page 3 celebs for keep getting invited in society’s high profile parties is a common and strategic trend among most young artists today. Once they become popular in the circuit, they become recognised artists. The next step is to start selling paintings in 5 star hotels at sky rising prices though the actual level of the painting might be B grade. You have to keep page 3 guys interested in you for your brand positioning.”

Many in the art fraternity call stalwart artist MF Hussain as the father of branding exercise. Chuckles Bhupesh Kumar, “Though to my knowledge MF Hussain never hired a PR firm himself but walking bare foot to five star locations and in glittering events is no less a thoughtful PR exercise. The bare foot actually got him noticed among the circuit of even corporate honchos, business tycoons and the fashion circles”. Adds Vinod Bhardwaj, renowned art critic, “MF Hussain always carries a long-handed brush in his hands besides being expensively dressed. That’s how the artist is a peculiar brand not just among the art fraternity but the world over.” And who could forget the famous series of famed Madhuri Dixit to Tabu and Amrita Rao. The series created a stir in Bollywood overnight and the publicity that the artist garnered is incredible.

Clarifies Keya Kullar, “MF Hussain’s publicity and branding exercises seem to have overshadowed his work that is simply brilliant. I have witnessed Mr Hussain painting Madhuri Dixit on the polo horse of Aroon Purie with pure imagination and that in minutes. I even got the opportunity to see him painting Taj Mahal on a piece of paper with Madhuri Dixit walking out of it without an image or picture to support him for the painting. He is simply a genius. No matter how many fatwas are issued against him or how many exiles he is punished with, the artist is no ordinary human”.

There are also artists who pick news pieces as subjects just to keep themselves in the news. Shares artist Dinesh Goswami, “Aritst Chandramohan made a provocative painting of Jesus Christ and shivling which made the artist a brand instantly. Similarly, artist Arpita Singh painted nude Kali with pistol in 1990s and became famous and recognised thereafter. Also artists like Jatin Das are purely known for their nude paintings. He even painted a nude painting on a hotel wall while attending a camp. Later, the camp organisers had to pay for the damage done to hotel walls, thus paying for the artists ‘branding’ tricks. Not to forget how the bandwagon of artists rushed to paint on recent Bihar floods capturing the media attention once again.”

There also have been artists who caught great media attention by avoiding the media. And the first name that one remembers is that of the late artist Ganesh Pyne who managed to stay in the public spotlight by avoiding the media in any event he would visit. Another trick that really helps artist in luring clients and customers today is a ‘parallel profession’. Mentions another art curator without disclosing the name, “Artist Rajesh Bhaderia is a spiritual artist besides being an astrologer. But he uses his accurate astrological predictions among the circuit in getting people interested in him, therefore adding to his recognition. Once the network is developed, sale of art works begins. Even pioneering artists like Manjeet Bawa earned a name for himself for his Sufi singing. Not to forget stalwarts like Satish Gujral whose pillars of success have been his political connections with brother and former Prime Minister of India Mr. I.K. Gujral. His involvement in architecture and murals has helped him in gaining recognition among corporates in the initial years.”

But the fact remains that no matter how much of branding or public relations are devised, an artist has to start with talent with a palette full of luck to get himself noticed by the right people, the right galleries, the right investors, the right media and last but not least producing works that appeal to buyers.

Khushboo Jain

The author is a freelance journalist.

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