Visual artists: ideas for marketing and advertising

Looking at art can broaden the way we think about communication. To do so thoughtfully, we need to distinguish what belongs to a work's history, what we know about a collaboration and what we are interpreting from a marketing perspective. That distinction allows us to enjoy the connections without attributing decisions to artists that they never made.

Visual artists: seven perspectives for an original idea

Each career opens a different question. Warhol allows us to think about repetition and consumption; Murakami, the intersections of art and product; Haring, public communication. Kusama invites us to consider spatial experience, Dalí changes our associations, Basquiat proposes an intense reading of signs and words, and Banksy introduces tensions around power and appropriation.

This selection works as a journey of observation. It does not aim to summarize the whole history of art or turn seven artists into the authors of a marketing formula. We are interested in understanding what studying them can contribute when proposing a message, developing an identity or designing an experience.

Takashi Murakami: collaboration and recognizable language

A collaboration is better understood when we can identify it. The relationship between Murakami and Perrier offers a concrete example: the brand documents screen-printed bottles from October 2020 and other formats in early 2021 in its collection presentation. The artist's flowers and characters are part of the project.

From a creative perspective, the case allows us to ask how two identities relate. What does the product retain? What does the artist contribute? How is that encounter described? These questions help evaluate a collaboration beyond the presence of a well-known name.

Affinity needs to be expressed through decisions. A proposal can review packaging, presentation, content and distribution to make the concept understandable. It must also explain who participates and under what conditions, avoiding communication that suggests a broader relationship than actually exists.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: words, signs and layers of reading

An image can ask for time and attention. The Broad's collection allows us to approach relationships between drawing, words, references and composition in Basquiat's work. His work deserves a reading that respects that complexity and avoids reducing it to supposed spontaneity without thought.

For a brand team, the useful question is how different levels of reading coexist. A piece can have an idea recognizable at first glance and offer additional information to those who stop. The difficulty lies in building relationships, rather than simply accumulating symbols.

Authenticity requires a voice of your own. Adding crossed-out words or irregular strokes does not automatically turn an advertisement into a sincere expression. It helps to review what the brand wants to say, the experience from which it speaks and why it chose that form. Visual decisions are stronger when they can be explained without relying on another person's prestige.

Banksy: attention, criticism and the limits of association

Provoking a conversation means taking responsibility for its content. Studying Banksy can lead us to consider how an image questions a situation and how its meaning changes as it circulates. For a brand, that reflection requires asking what position it takes and whether its actions are consistent with it.

There is also an explicit limit. Banksy's website warns about commercial use of his images and associations that make it appear he has endorsed something. His work should not be presented as a repertoire available for campaigns.

Attention needs a direction. Before approving a provocative idea, the team should identify what it wants people to understand, what could be misinterpreted and who might be affected. An intense conversation does not automatically amount to a good relationship with the public.

Keith Haring: an image in shared space

The context of circulation matters. The Keith Haring Foundation documents his drawings on empty panels in the New York subway and the development of a practice connected to broad audiences. His career offers an opportunity to study the relationship between graphic language and everyday life.

In advertising, that relationship appears when we choose a medium and a place. A message intended for a phone screen does not behave in the same way on a busy street. Distance, movement and available time change what someone can read.

A cause requires concrete participation. If a campaign addresses social issues, its image needs to be connected to actions and responsibilities. Listening to those who experience that situation can change the objective and help build communication more relevant than a simple aesthetic of commitment.

Yayoi Kusama: from detail to environment

A pattern can transform the perception of a space. The Broad's Kusama profile describes the accumulation of small marks in her Infinity Nets. Her work invites us to observe how scale, repetition and the visitor's position participate in what we see.

That observation allows us to think of brand experiences as journeys. The entrance, signs, interaction areas and exit need to maintain a relationship. A visual device can connect them, as long as it helps people understand the experience and does not make orientation difficult.

Immersion is designed for real people. Sound, reflections, queues and access needs are part of the proposal. An experience can be visually attractive and uncomfortable if those aspects are left out of planning.

Salvador Dalí: unexpected associations and design

Surprise can open a new reading of something familiar. Studying Dalí's surrealism invites us to review associations we take for granted. In a creative exercise, changing an object's scale or placing it in another context can help explore an idea before choosing how to communicate it.

There is also a documented commercial relationship: Chupa Chups dates Dalí's sketch that formed the basis of its logo to 1969. This example allows us to discuss a specific intervention, without attributing every subsequent campaign using surrealist images to him.

The idea must remain understandable. An unexpected composition needs to retain some connection with the product or message. If the surprise only works after an extensive explanation, it helps to review which part of the concept could be made clearer.

Andy Warhol: repetition, objects and identity

Repetition can make a relationship visible. Warhol's work at The Broad allows reflection on consumer objects, recognizable images and serial production. Looking at those relationships from marketing, we can ask what maintains an identity and what changes when it is repeated across different media.

Practical application requires balance. Reusing colors, shapes or a structure can help organize a campaign, while variations respond to context. Repetition loses meaning when every piece says the same thing without addressing what someone needs at each moment.

An identity needs continuity and judgment. The creative team's objective is to build its own system that can evolve. The artistic reference opens the conversation; the needs of the brand and its audience guide the final decisions.

How to bring these references into a project

Start with a specific question. It might be how to explain a service, how to organize an experience or how to connect a campaign's pieces better. Then select references that help explore that question and describe which aspect you are studying in each one.

Separate documented facts from the team's ideas. Record the sources for a collaboration and, in another part of the work, develop original sketches. That organization makes it easier to discuss the proposal without confusing a creative interpretation with an artist's statement.

Test the message before expanding production. Showing a prototype allows you to observe what is understood, what raises questions and which elements distract. A small test can reveal that a metaphor needs context or an interaction requires clearer instructions.

At GX, we want visual culture to help formulate better questions and build original answers. If you are developing a campaign, let's talk about your project and the relationship between idea, audience and execution.

Explore more

• Visual content: bringing clarity to the brand message: choose photographs, infographics and videos according to the information they need to explain, and adapt their composition to the channel and audience.

• How to measure brand experiences with clear criteria: define the decision you need to make, select observable actions and distinguish participation, comprehension and results you can attribute with evidence.

• Andy Warhol: pop art, advertising and brands: Explore Andy Warhol's relationship with advertising, consumer culture and music, and a reading of his work that raises questions for brand strategy.

Sources

The historical references come from Perrier, Banksy, the Keith Haring Foundation, The Broad and Chupa Chups. The marketing questions and applications are GX's editorial analysis.