BY KENNETH RICHARD | THE IMPRESSIONIST
In the early 2000’s Coca-Cola took to Los Angeles with a bucket of cash and the goal of supporting the arts. An admirable gesture by the company marketing ‘the real thing.’ However, the firm came to support a specific set of artist; not installation artist, nor performance artist, nor fine artist, but graffiti artist.
The money came with no-strings. However, soon after their generous endowment, purveyors of the fine art of graffiti, which was in constant view while sitting in park on LA’s freeways, could see woven into the spray-painted work one brand: Coca-Cola. The work was as diverse and fresh as the artist behind it who were given free reign. Many gave back to the brand by interpreting the iconic bottle and logo in their own unique fashion. Shame that Instagram wasn’t around to spread their interpretation of the real thing around the world.
Today Creative Director Alessandro Michele, and the house of Gucci, have no such limitations and are playing patron of the arts by turning over the brands patterns and iconic design elements to a series of artist with their #GucciGram project. Artist diverse as Jay Howell, creator of the animated characters of Bob’s Burgers to Lyle Rimer, a Canadian makeup artist, were also given free reign with Gucci’s floral #GGBlooms prints and their geometric #GGCaleido patterns to craft Instagram images.
The campaign will run on all of Gucci’s social channels as well as a new section on their site. Certainly there will be fans who will develop their own interpretations of Gucci’s iconic assets as the program grows and inspires fellow artist and dreamers. The Impression looks forward to seeing how it evolves as we love the taste of the real thing.
http://theimpression.com/gucci-gram-instagram-project/
