Advertising and Banksy

There was an image floating around the Internet. It was last spring, if I remember correctly. The image shows a diamond encrusted skull (I don’t recognize the relevance, but any how) and a quote delivered by the anonymous Bristol graffiti artist Banksy. The quote reads: The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.

That statement kind of riles me up. It does so because I’m sort of offended. Not as an artist (I’ve painted pictures, and written music and written stories, so I’m an artist, right?), as someone in the ad industry. Well, I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there! 

Unfortunately, in the economical world we’re living in today, there’s really no room to be an artist. And for the creative and young people Banksy is talking about, making a living in the art industry (whatever that exactly may be) isn’t easy. You’ll be a starving musician, an unpublished writer, a humble finger painter whose work won’t sell.

Until their big break comes, the only thing left for them to do, besides eating a whole lot of ramen noodles, is express themselves. But who’s listening? Doesn’t expressing yourself only count if you have an audience that isn’t necessarily just your friends and family trying to support you along the way?

Advertising allows these creative kids to express themselves with the skills they have to a listening audience. Big Bad corporate companies don’t just come to advertisers with a message they want to deliver. They come to advertisers with a problem that they see needs to be resolved. And from then on, the ambitious, creative, hard working people use their creative minds together to resolve that problem. But there’s a catch. That problem has to be resolved in a specific set of boundaries, set by advertising regulations, by the company itself, and by what’s fit to be seen by the designated audience. For an ordinary person, that’s no easy task. For the creative person, that’s still no easy task, but they’re the best for the job.

For the most part, art holds no boundaries. Artists can say what they want, how they want, any time they want. That’s rather easy for the ordinary person; it’s still the creative people that are doing it well.

A definition of art tells: Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. That sounds like a well-executed ad. Something that looks good to the eye, possesses creativity, imagination, and holds an emotional power that engages and delights the audiences. Sounds like art to me.