Brand Name Painter

Brendan O'Connell finds art buyers in the aisles of a supermarket

  • Share
  • Read Later

(2 of 2)

If O'Connell's work is any indication, one consequence of decades of immersion in a branded world is that labels are inseparable from life. Memories are populated by people and places and packaging; the buyer of a Crisco piece told O'Connell that it represented the fried chicken of childhood. So even if the work recalls an earlier moment in consumerism, it's also very contemporary. Now the commission could come from the driver or the car company; now we'll spend $1,000 or so--the low end for one of O'Connell's pieces--on a painting of Tabasco bottles because we love hot sauce that much.

To O'Connell, consumerism isn't a bad word. To consume is human, something to which brands are incidental. "Buying a piece of art is a form of consumption. Looking at a piece of art is a form of consumption. Me walking into a grocery store and taking pictures is a form of consumption," he says. "There's that aspect of the zest of being alive. In order to be vibrant, you have to take things in."

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. Next Page