Art and Branding: A Collision on the Desert

by DeeDee

Art is about mythmaking.

Branding is about creating value.

Value creation also can involve mythmaking.

Since branding and art both involve mythmaking, it seems natural for art and branding to collide. That is exactly what happened with Prada Marfa.

Many people are quite familiar with Prada, the Italian fashion company which holds prime space in elite urban shopping centers around the globe. When Prada opens a new store in downtown Tokyo…well that is something that is expected.

What is completely unexpected is to find a Prada in Marfa, Texas. The town of Marfa is located in the West Texas desert near the Mexican border. It has a population of 2,121 and is about 9 hours drive from San Antonio.

In 2005, two Scandinavian artists installed a Prada mini-boutique in the desert 26 miles from Marfa. This sculpture is a 15 by 25 foot adobe building designed to look just like a Prada store, and even contains Prada merchandise. The main differences between this sculpture created by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset and a real Prada store are:

 It is completely out of context
 It is a mini version
 It will never open
 It will not be maintained

Well, the last item is debatable. The sculpture was vandalized soon after it was finished. Shoes were stolen and the building was spray painted with graffiti. After that break-in happened a handyman restored the building.

Art and clothing are intertwined. Clothing is already woven with myth. If you think about the functional value of clothing on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs you simply need clothes to stay warm. If that is all that mattered about clothing, then a $3 shirt, $10 pants, and $5 sandals from Walmart would suffice. That is a complete ensemble for less than $20. So, why then do people spend upwards of $500 on a mere shirt from Prada?

Clothing is transformational. It is aspirational. It is enveloped with social meaning. People are paying $3 for the shirt and $497 on symbolism.

By supporting the artists in this desert adventure, Prada reinforces its sphere of meaning beyond simple utility of clothing. As doing so it becomes a more interwoven part of the lexicon of the art world. And the myth grows.

It has been in the news recently. More vandalism: The 15-foot-by-25-foot adobe cube building intended to masquerade as a boutique of the luxury Italian fashion house has been battered by vandals.

Graffiti is spray painted on an exterior wall. Bullet holes pepper the windows at the site west of Marfa.

The 6-year-old, $100,000 project was designed by Berlin-based artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset.

Backers say they'll clean the graffiti and make changes -- when they come up with the money.
Elmgreen, in an email to The Associated Press, says it may be time to pull the plug on the project.

This whole thing reminded me of a trip I made to Midland/Odessa (west Texas desert) to visit my friend Beth years ago. I asked her on the way in from the airport if Neimans had opened a store out there yet.....she said "Oh yes! There is a north-side location and a south-side location!"

I was thrilled at that news only to turn and see the look on Beths face....the "look" was definitely saying..."you stupid bitch..."

Then when she told me Prada had opened a boutique near Marfa....lol......I just think its neat when artists do this "off the wall" stuff....I mean ...can you imagine driving on a highway in the middle of nowhere and seeing what appears to be a Prada boutique? With bullet holes?

Set Fire To The Rain

by DeeDee

Adele is whats happening these days....and she is fantastic!

The Fruitcake Lady Tells It Like It Is

by DeeDee

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Crazy

by DeeDee

The Village People

by DeeDee

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Joel

by DeeDee

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Silvery Moon

by DeeDee

this is my favorite rendition of this classic......I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!!

(The song would not embed, so here's the link!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysOgFZOhzuA   

Amazing Trickshot

by DeeDee

Watch this!  Did you know I invented tennis?

Crazy

by DeeDee

this is Cee Lo Green....love this song......

America's Official Language

by DeeDee

"I'm so sick of people that can't speak English"..."HEY YOU!! You're in the USA!! LEARN THE LANGUAGE!!...."Damn Foreigners".....

Do you know what the official language of the United States is? If you answered English, guess again. But don’t feel bad, the vast majority of people would answer that English is the official language of the United States of America. English is the de facto language since, at this point, it is the most widely spoken language in the nation. But Spanish is catching up with over forty million Hispanics speaking their native language at home, at work, and in their daily lives. 

 

This brings another point: Why is the U.S., an English-speaking country (or so you think), catering not only to the Spanish language, but to many others that you don’t even know about? Because the U.S. as a nation has never declared an official language. Many people have tried it with no success. In 1780, John Adams proposed to the Continental Congress that English should be declared the official language of the United States. His proposal was deemed "undemocratic and a threat to individual liberty.” This type of debate has been going on for years, with people on both sides of the fence. And yet, the issue isn't any closer to a resolution than it was 200 years ago. This doesn’t mean that the individual states have not declared an official language because many already have. Twenty-seven states, to be exact, have officially declared English as their language.   

Let’s not forget that since 1776 we have been—and continue to be—a multilingual nation. Back then, it wasn’t uncommon to hear up to 20 different languages spoken in daily life. Today, those numbers are more staggering. According to U.S. English Inc., an advocacy group that supports declaring English as our official language, 322 languages are spoken in this country, with 24 of those spoken in every state and the District of Columbia. California has the most languages, with 207, while Wyoming has the fewest with 56. So why won’t Congress declare an official language? Because we are a nation of immigrants and these numbers prove it. Because declaring an official language would abridge the rights of individuals with limited English proficiency, individuals who are paying taxes and who are entitled to the same rights as those who speak English.

 

Don't Send A Man To The Grocery Store

by DeeDee

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A Mosque at Ground Zero?

by DeeDee

For the sake of argument, let's just assume that the government report on 9/11 is true and that we were attacked by Muslim terrorists.

It’s hard to believe that we’re quickly approaching the 9th anniversary of September 11 attacks. I remember it like it was yesterday. The pain is still very real and the wounds haven’t fully healed for many of us.

This past summer, there was a lot of discussion/arguing about a proposed mosque to be constructed near ground zero. I did my best to listen to both sides without judgment, as clearly passions were very high for everyone involved.

But when I look back on the attacks, I think it’s important to remember who attacked us. It wasn’t Islam itself – but rather a handful of extremists who are not an accurate or complete representation of the roughly 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. We’d never assume all Christians shared Reverend Fred Phelps' "God hates fags" mentality, and so it’s important not to stereotype our Muslim brothers in the same way.

The United States was founded on many important freedoms that are protected by our Constitution. When the terrorists hijacked planes, they were not just attacking buildings and destroying lives – they were targeting our freedoms and our way of life. If we dissolve these freedoms, the freedom of assembly included, because of the September 11 attacks, then the terrorists have won in a very real way.

If, on the other hand, we stand by our freedoms even when it’s difficult to do so, then the spirit of this country lives on; protecting those freedoms – the backbone of this country – is one way we can honor the countless lives cut short on Sept. 11. And that’s why I support the mosque.

Ever Wondered What Ant Subterrain Structure's Looks Like?

by DeeDee

ok...look at this.....I saw it and was like OMG......the information is so phenomenally amazing......the first time I saw it I wasn't really paying attention and I thought they were excavating a dinosaur skeleton...standing upright....lol

Insane Chance

by DeeDee

This has some amazing footage....

A Cow, an Ant, and an Old Fart!

by DeeDee

A Cow, an Ant, and an Old Fart are debating on who is the greatest of the three of them.

The Cow:  I give 50 litres of milk every day and that's why I am the greatest!!

The Ant:  I work day and night, summer and winter.  I can carry 52 times my own weight and that's why I am the greatest!!


























Why are you scrolling down?  It's your turn to say something.....

Drama Queen

by DeeDee

This reminded me of ME when I was a child!

iPhone 4

by DeeDee

DeeDee sent me this video and I laughed and laughed. Then I told her "thanks for the blog!" (be careful what you send me!) :)~

Garden Snakes Can Be Dangerous

from your hostess today... DeeDee

Snakes, also known as Garter Snakes (Thamnophissirtalis), can be dangerous. Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes. Here's why.

An older couple I know had a lot of potted plants. During a recent thunderstorm watch with reported hail, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from possible damage.

It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants. When it had gotten acclimated, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa.

She let out a very loud scream.

The husband (who was taking a shower) shuffled out into the living room naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa.

He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind. He thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor.

His wife thought he had had a heart attack, so she covered him up, told him to lie still, and called an ambulance.

The attendants rushed in, would not listen to his protests, loaded him on the stretcher, and started carrying him out.

About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital.

The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor who volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.. Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief.

But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa.

The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her.

The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches.

The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that the snake had bitten him. She went to the kitchen and got a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat.

By now, the police had arrived.
Breathe here...

They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little garden snake!

The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.

Now, the little snake again crawled out from under the sofa and one of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table. The table fell over, the lamp on it shattered and, as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes.

The other policeman tried to beat out the flames, and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car.

Meanwhile, neighbors saw the burning drapes and called in the fire department. The firemen had started raising the fire ladder when they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires, put out the power, and disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area (but they did get the house fire out).

Time passed! Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car and all was right with their world.

A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a thunderstorm watch for that night. The wife asked her husband if he thought they should bring in their plants for the night.

And that's when he shot her……

Hakuna Matata!

by DeeDee

Something a little uplifting for Father's Day!

Instead of $43 Million, How About Waffles?

by DeeDee

A woman who won $42.9 million off a penny bet in a slot machine had her dreams dashed when the casino said the jackpot message was an error. Now Colorado gambling authorities are testing the machine while the state’s 39 casinos scramble to reassure gamblers. Louise Chavez of Thornton got the jackpot message on Friday at the Fortune Valley Casino in Central City. The top prize was listed as $251,000. She said that the casino gave her free breakfast but that she is owed more.

For more of the story click here......   http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14795166

What do you think is fair? The casino itself isn't worth $43 million........however...the gaming commission will back up claims if it is warranted.....

Read the short story in the Denver Post for all the details......casinos are fully protected........or are they?

Louise thinks she is entitled to $43 million.....whats your opinon?? I am interested to know our Mary's opinion......she has a lot of experience with casino's......and slots....