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Photos by Sarah Wright. All images © Andrea Love and Andy Katsikapes, shared with permission
“Set in a dreamy, fluffy world, the wizard Skyrider is facing the ramifications of a giant technological glitch that forced civilization up into the clouds,” says a synopsis of artist Andrea Love’s new video game, Feltopia. Your mission? Fly on a trusty steed named Cumulus “through a world of wizards, robots, and magical creatures—clearing the way towards the rainbow realm, where a mysterious mega-bot is threatening to consume the whole spectrum.”
Known for her meticulously detailed stop-motion animations using wool, Love (previously) embarks on an ambitious collaborative project to transform her felted stories into an interactive game. Just launched on Kickstarter, the project aims to roll out initially on iOS and expand to more platforms as funding allows. Love joins seasoned game designer Andy Katsikapes, who invited sound and music designers Peter Michael Davison and Richard Gould to build a world frame-by-frame, combining playable elements with hand-felted compositions and stop-motion techniques.
Get involved with the Kickstarter campaign, and learn more about Love’s work on her website, Vimeo, and Instagram.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article To the Rainbow Realm! Technology and Magic Merge in ‘Feltopia,’ the First Felted Stop-Motion Video Game appeared first on Colossal.
An Honor Heights area resident plans to turn her front lawn into an art gallery and market this weekend.
Artist Elizabeth Bautista Boyd will host the Honor Heights Drive Art Affair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
“I wanted to just create an opportunity go get some of our local artists and give them the opportunity to showcase their work and sell,” she said. “It’s going to be an outdoor gallery and market.”
Boyd said she has about 35 area artists showing all kinds of art.
“We have paintings, illustrations, pottery, photography, jewelry, woodwork, metalwork,” she said. “There’s really something for everyone.”
She said her front lawn, at the corner of Honor Heights Drive and Palmer Drive, is large enough to accommodate the artists.
“It’s got lots of tree covering, and it should be a nice day,” she said. “Some people will have tents set up if they have larger displays, but others might just bring a table for their artwork.”
A food vendor will sell hot lunches, she said.
Muskogee Art Guild will have a table offering signups to be a guild member.
“It was actually inspired by an event in Tulsa,” Boyd said. “A lady named Pam Watson started doing this, I believe after COVID shut everything down in 2020. All the galleries were closed and she wanted to help all the local artists and she started holding an art market on her yard in the Maple Ridge area. It was just so lovely and I enjoyed it, and I would go to every single one.”
Several years ago, Jeanne Ross of MIT CISR told a story about the role of data in customer experience. She said that she was not particularly good at picking out outfits for events. Given this, she would usually have her daughters come shopping with her. One time, a personal shopper at Nordstrom offered to help her the next time she needed a new outfit.
At the very same time, Nordstrom was a patron of MIT CISR. Jeanne knew Nordstrom was working to provide better digital customer experience — and in this process better compete against Amazon and other digital natives. To do this, Nordstrom tied a predictive model to past purchase data and real time supply chain data. The goal was to market goods that were in stock that would be of interest to customers.
The next time Jeanne went shopping she made an appointment with the personal shopper. During this experience, she noticed that 50% of the outfits she loved and the other 50% she hated. Knowing this was an unusual percentage, she asked the personal shopper. Fortunately, for this story, they were honest with her. The personal shopper showed her that the computer picked out the outfits that she loved, and the personal shopper picked out the outfits she hated.
Soon after, Jeanne noticed this experience was omnichannel. The outfits pushed on the web were personalized to her.
Given this backdrop, I was fascinated last week to learn about the state of the art for personalization when I had the opportunity to attend Optimizely’s Opticon conference.
Here’s are some takeaways from Opticon 2023.
Before delving into my takeaways, let’s establish a shared definition of a great customer experience. Tiffani Bova in the “The Experience Mindset,” says “Great CX is not defined by what organizations offer, but how customers feel when they engage with an organization’s products and service, employees, and brands.”
How can brands alter customer perceptions? Undoubtedly, smart personalization is pivotal. Undoubtedly, content remains central in enticing prospects to make initial purchases and encouraging repeat buying from existing customers. After all marketing is about, as Theodore Levitt suggested in “Marketing Imagination,” “getting and keeping customers.” To deliver both, today’s organizations need content that is relevant.
Related Article: Optimizely Announces Tidal Shift for Marketing Leaders
Alyssa Schwabe, VP of digital marketing for Johnson Financial Group, shared her firm’s journey to relevancy and digital experience. Like many organizations, Johnson Financial Group’s starting point was a website that was static and as she described just “brochureware.”
Her team aimed to revamp their approach to align with their marketing objectives. Their primary goal was personalization, beginning with the capacity to recommend products, including the next best purchase. However, this necessitated content tailored to individual customer situations. Fundamentally, this entailed building what data experts refer to as master data or a comprehensive customer profile, alongside the capability to translate this data into actionable insights. Additionally, it emphasized the importance of offering relevant content to customers before transitioning them to an adviser, rather than hastily pushing for a sale.
To succeed, Johnson Financial established a unified customer data repository to power marketing applications, enabling tailored content recommendations and refined product offers based on customer life stages. They’ve also developed life stage demographics and conducted content experiments for each persona. While this approach is highly effective, a larger company I discussed it with revealed that such improvements would necessitate CEO involvement. This is despite Salesforce Research demonstrating that CX leaders yield three times higher returns for shareholders than CX laggards.
Related Article: AI in Ecommerce: True One-on-One Personalization Is Coming
Angela Ahrendts suggests that smart CMOs and business leaders learn how to get their young innovators heard. At Burberry she created an innovation council that surfaced fresh ideas on transforming experience and the life stage of prospects. More importantly, she made sure that innovators were heard and got the support to turn their ideas into reality. This allowed her to expand the demographics of a Burberry customer and of course, sales.
Looking at the future, Ahrendts says the creators of ChatGPT were smart to go direct to consumer first. This grew the market faster than if they went after businesses first. Today’s marketers need to reach the TikTok kids to win. This is why consumer products companies and retailers need to continually bring in new blood.
When it comes to building successful businesses, Ahrendts says she “remains a brand purist.” Brands, in her perspective, generate enduring value for organizations. In this context, the marketer’s role is to maintain the brand’s relevance, beginning with defining the organization’s narrative, value proposition, and mission. It’s also crucial to understand how the organization positively affects people’s lives. While AI can ensure consistent messaging, the art of crafting the message remains a valuable skill. Ahrendts emphasized the critical role of trust in a brand, and she maintains an optimistic view of AI, believing it will enhance job roles and facilitate positive business impact.
Related Article: AI in Marketing: More Personalization in the Next Decade
Michael Vanderhoof, director of digital experience at Charles Schwab, suggested that it is critical that marketers understand their client’s changing needs. He stressed that innovation hinges on reliable data and the establishment of learning organizations. For many, embracing experimentation throughout the entire product life cycle can be truly transformative.
Schwab conducts tests across all phases, actively identifying and sizing client issues. This involves leveraging real-time customer behavioral data to discern what truly delivers value to customers. Schwab’s approach involves testing multiple experiences concurrently, enabling them to maximize the value they provide to customers. Much like Linda Yates in “The Unicorn Within,” they embrace a continuous cycle of problem identification, testing, learning, and iteration. This approach empowers Schwab to continually enhance its digital products with a wealth of digital data.
Vanderhoof emphasized another crucial point. He said, “We are not our customers. As much as we may want to, we do not know what they want. We must ask how they feel and how they are going to act.” Moreover, he pointed out that customers may occasionally misrepresent themselves. To win, “organizations need to have the right data to answer the right questions.”
Related Article: Decoding AI-Driven Personalization: Setting Realistic DXP Expectations
Darren Chait, head of growth marketing at Calendly, said Calendly has an incredibly diverse set of customers. And for this reason, it needs to be able to personalize between a Fortune 500 prospect and their needs and a dog walker and their needs. This necessitates the adoption of a personalization approach and a culture of experimentation. Calendly applies experimentation across product development, marketing, and customer experience. The company has even established guidelines for when to initiate experiments and what results and outcomes to anticipate. At any given moment, they are concurrently conducting 18-20 experiments.
In managing its diverse audience, Calendly segments by role, department and function and infer intent. The company also utilizes the way a prospect came to them as a source of information. Thanks to these strategies, Calendly boasts an impressive 11.2% higher lead-to-conversion rate. has an 11.2% higher lead to conversion rate.
Related Article: Implementing AI in Omnichannel Strategies for Seamless Customer Experiences
So how can brands change how their customers feel about them? One element is intelligent personalization. To deliver on this, organizations need relevant content. According to Alex Atzberger, CEO of Optimizely, “content should no longer be created in isolation. It should be part of a campaign, and its relevance should be determined through experimentation.”
The objective for organizations is to accelerate the transition from ideation to experimentation to conversion. As per one market analyst’s recommendation, the opportunity lies in delivering increasingly pertinent content. Atzberger envisions AI as a transformative force in content creation and personalization, akin to the impact of the printing press. However, he cautions against overestimating its short-term effects while underestimating its long-term implications. With this perspective, Atzberger believes we are at an inflection point with AI, poised to reshape marketing practices and enhance digital customer experiences.
Finally, Atzberger advocates for the restructuring of marketing around a lifecycle model that evolves continuously. This model should enable organizations to seamlessly transition from content creation to commerce, experimentation, and ultimately, delivery. This shift is significant because historically, marketing has comprised disconnected, discrete activities. Alexandra London, the head of digital at Zoom, shares Atzberger’s perspective on the crucial importance of conceiving marketing as a lifecycle.
Shafqat Islam, Optimizely’s CMO, delivered an intriguing talk, given his background as a former development leader and startup CEO who transitioned to the role of CMO. He openly acknowledged that he was tasked with transforming marketing. To succeed in this endeavor, he emphasized that every action he took began with a focus on the corporate and marketing mission and beliefs. This involved defining the organization’s objectives and reaching a consensus on its fundamental beliefs. This consensus extended to the recognition that content forms the foundation of the digital experience, and the digital experience is the most important product.
However, Islam emphasized that all of these efforts are futile without effective leadership. He firmly believes that leadership transcends mere values; it entails forging a cohesive marketing team that works together and avoids siloed approaches. He contends that contemporary marketing leaders must grapple with legacy hierarchies and silos. In response, he has drawn inspiration from a central concept in digital transformation and business agility, incorporating Stanley McCrystal’s framework of integrated “team of teams” thinking into the marketing organization. This serves as the foundation for an agile approach. Remarkably, Islam has even implemented stand-up meetings within the realm of marketing.
Islam contends that it’s imperative to be transparent and share the truth with people to facilitate better decision-making. He advocates for a shift in marketing toward a collaborative, non-siloed approach, which necessitates the development of integrated marketing processes. According to Islam, the foundation of effective marketing lies in the brand, emphasizing key milestones, and crafting integrated campaigns. In today’s landscape, marketing requires a unified narrative, and personalization should evolve from macro data-driven approaches to micro data-driven strategies, with micro data enabling one-to-one personalization.
In a one-on-one conversation later, Islam shared insights into his journey transitioning into marketing with a solid understanding of CMO responsibilities. His mission at Optimizely involved transforming the marketing organization into a more agile and resourceful entity through the creation of tiger teams. Although it presented challenges, he expressed satisfaction with the tangible progress they’ve made. Islam noted that the transition within the marketing team itself has been relatively smooth, as “people like marketing to themselves.” However, he candidly acknowledged that, like many software companies, the primary challenge lies in the transition on the sales side. Their product caters more to marketing organizations than to technology ones. With his experience and vision, it’s evident that Islam is well-suited for significant roles in the marketing sphere, should he choose to pursue them.
During a conversation with his colleague, Optimizely CTO Aniel Sud, Islam was remarkably candid about the transformative potential of generative AI in content creation. He emphasized that this technology could drive the cost of content creation close to zero. In his assessment, approximately 30% of the content creation process involves ideation, with the remainder dedicated to writing, copyediting, and formatting to align with the company’s style guide. With AI’s capacity to impact images and format documents, a substantial portion of these tasks can be automated, resulting in a significant reduction in content creation costs.
This, in turn, will empower content marketers to generate and assess multiple versions of content efficiently. As a result, content creators will shift their focus toward intention and outcomes, moving upstream to engage in strategic activities that foster agility, experimentation, and the delivery of hyper-personalized experiences.
We are currently witnessing an evolution in the landscape of marketing. As the authors of “Future Ready” assert, “Aiding customers to meet their needs, providing a great customer experience, and acting consistently and with purpose helps create this value.”
Undoubtedly, in the present day, as product lifecycles become shorter, the customer experience is just as vital as the physical product. Today’s marketers must be fully prepared to prioritize and excel in delivering exceptional experiences to deliver it.
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A beacon in business and success, Forbes has long attracted high-net-worth individuals through its platforms and live events. The Forbes Research 2023 High Net Worth Survey findings prove just that – and the company is helping luxury marketers reach their target customers by sharing how these individuals are redefining what they want from brands, where shifts exist when it comes to experiencing and purchasing luxury goods, and what drives purchasing decisions across generations.
Forbes surveyed 250 high-net-worth individuals, with between $2-$30+ million in investible assets – a quarter of whom are under 40 years of age, from across the globe to better understand how they’re celebrating their success, gauging their interest in making luxury and travel purchases and aiming to understand how these markets are being redefined by this particularly successful sector of the Forbes audience.
According to the survey, 62% of high-net-worth individuals plan to increase their spend on luxury goods and services over the next year, with investment value, sustainable practices and exclusivity of the item or brand standing as the top three factors in making a luxury purchase.
What’s more is that high-net-worth individuals are experiencing and purchasing luxury goods in new and different ways. The majority of those surveyed say they do most of their shopping for luxury goods online, this is driven by the wealthiest buyers ($30M+ in investable assets). Next-gen and female cohorts are also more likely to purchase luxury goods online in comparison to older respondents and men. While 70% of respondents from North America agree they do most of their shopping for luxury items online as opposed to in-person, just 52% in APAC and 46% in EMEA agreed.
Last month, Forbes gathered luxury marketers from top brands in the industry – including LVMH, Cartier, Ralph Lauren, The Macallan, The Ritz Carlton, Ferragamo and more – in New York City to share some of the recent findings from the 2023 High-Net-Worth Survey and spark peer to peer conversation about the changing behaviors of luxury consumers. Today, Forbes will do the same in Paris, France, proving that their access and unique positioning spans across continents. Géraldine Boublil, Creative Influencer and Stylist; Corentin Huard, Model, Filmmaker, and Influencer; and Victor Weinsanto, Fashion Designer, 2023 Forbes Under 30 lister and Ambassador of the LVMH-backed Nona Source will all speak at the event.
Forbes is reimagining and expanding its luxury focus, according to Olivia Gelade, Executive Sales Director, Global Luxury & Innovation. “While our Editorial franchises like the Forbes 400 and lists like 30 Under 30 and Top Creators that recognize next-gen billionaires are one touchpoint to high-net-worth individuals, we’ve also developed bespoke content solutions for our partners that are designed to highlight luxury brands and drive purchasing,” said Gelade. “Our ability to then convene luxury marketers and thought leaders from diverse sectors of the industry to share insights invigorates our focus and expands our reach.”
A large breadth of luxury-focused editorial will bolster Forbes’ plans, too. “Adding value to luxury marketers means ensuring that our coverage remains expansive across print, digital, video and live events,” said Michael Solomon, Editor, ForbesLife. “ForbesLife is our longtime luxury lifestyle brand, covering everything from fashion and travel to cars and watches, and we’re constantly seeking new and creative opportunities to highlight a variety of brands and products in the space.”
To learn more and access top findings from the 2023 Forbes High Net Worth Survey, click here.
Media Contact:
Sarah Edelstein – sedelstein@forbes.com
“Cupboard IX” (2019), stoneware, raffia, and steel armature, 78 × 60 × 80 inches. Image courtesy of Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. All images © Simone Leigh, shared with permission
Simone Leigh’s first monograph opens with this quote from the artist: “In order to tell the truth, you need to invent what might be missing from the archive, to collapse time, to concern yourself with issues of scale, to formally move things around in a way that reveals something more true than fact.”
It’s a lofty and perceptive statement that perfectly illustrates Leigh’s oeuvre. Working across sculpture, installation, and video, the artist returns to the aesthetics of Africa and the African diaspora as she amends the art historical narrative by putting Black women and Black feminist thought at the center. Her works draw on craft traditions and legacies through her material choices, including the ceramic pots and raffia skirts that meld with her figurative works. These hybrid forms draw attention to labor and value, particularly as they relate to women’s disregarded contributions throughout history and around the globe.
Spanning two decades of work, the 372-page book accompanies Leigh’s first major museum survey, which closed at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston in September. The exhibition is in the midst of a nearly two-year tour and currently on its way to the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., where it will open in November and continue through March 2024, before finishing its run at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and California African American Museum between June 2024 and January 2025.
Comprising bronze, ceramic, and video works, the retrospective highlights the artist’s visual vocabulary of cowrie shells, rosettes, and indistinct facial features, along with pieces from her milestone achievement: In 2022, Leigh became the first Black woman to represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale with Sovereignty, an exhibition encompassing sculptures exploring self-determination and the interior lives of Black women.
Within the monograph, writing from brilliant scholars like Saidiya Hartman and Christina Sharpe elucidates Leigh’s interests and aesthetics, alongside historical photos, glimpses of the artist’s studio, and full-spread images of works. An essential and groundbreaking survey, the volume is celebratory, lauding Leigh’s expansive practice and enduring desire to fill gaps in the archive.
Simone Leigh was published earlier this month by Delmonico Books and is available on Bookshop.
“No Face (House)” (2020), terracotta, porcelain, ink, epoxy, and raffia, 29.5 × 24 × 24 inches. Image courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article A Groundbreaking Monograph Delves Into Simone Leigh’s Enduring Commitment to Centering Black Women appeared first on Colossal.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Media Contact:
Casey Ihde | OSU Museum of Art Marketing and Communications | 405-744-2783 | casey.pankey@okstate.edu
Get ready to explore the visual side of math in “Unusual Geometries,” Oklahoma State
University Museum of Art’s newest exhibition.
Running from Oct. 17 to Dec. 16, 2023, “Unusual Geometries” invites guests to rediscover
the hidden beauty and playfulness found within the world of geometry.
“The full breadth of geometry encompasses everything from the shape of coral to the
behavior of fractals and tells us not just how to measure objects and their spatial
relationships, but how to view them,” said Dr. Jay Schweig, department head and associate
professor of mathematics.
Schweig, in partnership with fellow OSU faculty including Drs. Henry Segerman, David
J. Wright and Lisa Mantini, contributed artworks exploring such topics as geometry,
fractals, optical illusions, hyperbolic planes, stereographic projections and more.
Complimenting the faculty’s artistic research are works from the museum’s collection.
“Blending art from the museum’s collection with projects from mathematics professors
and their students provides an interesting opportunity to experience the many dimensions
of artistic expression,” said Vicky Berry, director of OSUMA.
Brightly colored paper strips fold and intertwine in origami structures by Mantini.
A man’s profile spins around a central axis, translating a two-dimensional shape into
three-dimensional form in Renato Giuseppe Bertelli’s “Profilo continuo di Mussolini”
(Continuous Profile of Mussolini). This work inspired Segerman’s students to experiment
with positive and negative space, modeling and 3D printing. Mesmerizing circles expand
and repeat in never-ending patterns in Wright’s explorations into the work of Felix
Klein. Crocheted frills twist and curl into a hyperbolic plane, a concept modeled
after mathematician Daina Taimina’s creations.
Viewing math in such a way offers the intellectually curious opportunities to strengthen
observational skills and foster creative problem-solving.
“Coming at a problem from different perspectives can often be helpful,” said Segerman,
associate professor. “It might be a rare mathematical problem that benefits from an
artistic perspective, and a rare artistic problem that benefits from a mathematical
perspective. However, if you do know about both fields then you might be able to spot
the crossovers that do exist. … If you know about other, apparently distant fields,
more possibilities are open to you.”
Guests are invited to continue their cross-curricular curiosity in the artLAB by learning
basic origami techniques and contributing a paper cube to a growing community art
installation. ArtLAB activities are drop-in and available throughout the exhibition
run.
“Unusual Geometries” is on view Oct. 17–Dec. 16, 2023, at the OSU Museum of Art in
downtown Stillwater. A reception will be held from 5–7 p.m. on Nov. 8. Learn more
at https://museum.okstate.edu/art/unusual-geometries.html.
All images © Vorja Sánchez, shared with permission
Beastly jugs and vessels with legs comprise the latest in illustrator Vorja Sánchez’s eclectic and uncanny menagerie (previously). A new print titled “Ancient Pottery” draws inspiration from a wide variety of stoneware urns, bowls, and statuettes from prehistoric cultures around the world, imbuing each of them with the lively features of animals or mythological beings. Produced from an original piece made with pencil, ink, and watercolor on cotton paper, the artist emphasizes the appearance of age, as if a patina has formed over time across the entire composition.
“I am fascinated by the simple and imperfect but pure and free forms of ancient ceramics,” Sánchez tells Colossal. He continues:
When I started to study them—my cousin is an archaeologist specialized in ceramics and gave me a lot of information—I realized that they shared a common essence regardless of their origin. The older they are, the more universal the language is. I found that very interesting. That’s why I decided, sharing the same space, to make an accumulation.
Sánchez is currently working on new pieces that focus on individual pots. You can purchase prints in the artist’s shop, and find more on his website and Instagram.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Vorja Sánchez Brings the Past to Life in a Series of Uncanny ‘Ancient Pottery’ Illustrations appeared first on Colossal.
The brand will display art on SunChips bags in stores this month and champion artists through a $100,000 donation and partnership with nonprofit arts organization YoungArts
PLANO, Texas, Oct. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — SunChips celebrates individuality and believes different perspectives fuel a one-of-a-kind world. As part of that mission, its “Art Seen” program has put a spotlight on originality among artists to help more art be seen. Today, the brand has unveiled the “Art Seen” 2023 winning artists and their original artwork which will take over millions of SunChips bags at retailers across the country.
“Since 2021, the SunChips ‘Art Seen’ program has shined a light on artists whose diverse viewpoints make the world a brighter place,” said Rhasheda Boyd, vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay. “With less than 15% of art in permanent collections in the U.S. created by women and people of color, SunChips was inspired to drive a greater impact in the art community. Featuring these artists’ work on our packaging in retailers nationwide allows us to do our part to offer more exposure for these talented individuals in unexpected ways.”
The work of three selected artists will be featured on millions of SunChips bags across the country as well as local mural installations in the artists’ hometowns and on SunChips social media channels.
These artists include:
To further champion the next generation of emerging artists, SunChips is donating $100,000 to YoungArts, an organization that identifies exceptional young artists, amplifies their potential and invests in their lifelong creative freedom. The donation will fund artistic needs such as studio space and art supplies, as well as professional development, impacting more than 30 artists.
“At YoungArts, we value the creative expression that comes from a multitude of lived experiences,” said Angela Goding, senior director, strategic partnerships at YoungArts. “We’re grateful to join SunChips in celebrating how artists connect us through their uniquely personal work.”
Fans can also get involved in the support of underrepresented artists through an interactive branded lens experience on SnapChat that will feature the work of artist Glenn Espinosa from YoungArts. To access the interactive lens and amplify the work, fans can scan the code on the back of specially-marked “Art Seen” SunChips packaging, snap and share with their friends. Fans can also access the interactive lens on www.SunChipsArtSeen.com or by exploring the SnapChat app.
SunChips will donate an additional $1 to YoungArts for each Snap shared between 10/9/23 and 11/5/23, up to $40,000. To learn more about the program, head to www.SunChipsArtSeen.com.
About Frito-Lay North America
Frito-Lay North America is the $23 billion convenient foods division of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. Frito-Lay snacks include Lay’s and Ruffles potato chips, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips and branded dips, Cheetos snacks, Stacy’s pita chips, PopCorners popped-corn snacks, SunChips multigrain snacks and Fritos corn chips. The company operates 30+ manufacturing facilities across the U.S. and Canada, more than 200 distribution centers and services 315,000 retail customers per week through its direct-store-delivery model. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate website, www.fritolay.com, on Twitter (@fritolay), on Instagram (@fritolay) and on Facebook (Frito-Lay).
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $86 billion in net revenue in 2022, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay’s®, Doritos®, Cheetos®, Gatorade®, Pepsi-Cola®, Mountain Dew®, Quaker®, and SodaStream®. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.
About YoungArts
Established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison, YoungArts identifies exceptional young artists, amplifies their potential, and invests in their lifelong creative freedom. YoungArts provides space, funding, mentorship, professional development and community throughout artists’ careers. Entrance into this prestigious organization starts with a highly competitive application for talented artists ages 15–18, or grades 10– 12, in the United States that is judged by esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists through a rigorous blind adjudication process. For more information, visit youngarts.org, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or Twitter.
SOURCE Frito-Lay North America
Christopher Rothko, Mark Rothko’s son, says that his late father would have been “upset” by the astronomical market value of his works today and unsettled by the tumultuous state of the world. Christopher Rothko was speaking at the launch of a vast show of works opening at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris this week (Mark Rothko, 18 October-2 April 2024).
The Paris show is co-curated by the younger Rothko and includes more than 115 works drawn from collections such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, and the Fondation Beyeler in Basel. The exhibition is “displayed chronologically across all of the Fondation’s spaces”, tracing “the artist’s entire career from his earliest figurative paintings to the abstract works that he is most known for today”, a gallery statement says.
The market value of Mark Rothko is in the spotlight after Artnet News reported that Pace gallery is offering Olive over Red (1956) at the Paris + par Art Basel fair this week for $40m. “The primary way that it’s [the prices for Mark Rothko’s works] important to me is that it makes organising exhibitions very difficult—the cost of insurance and transport is astronomical. I’m grateful to do this show which is really on an enormous scale; not many institutions can afford to do this,” Christopher Rothko says.
Mark Rothko’s No. 10 (1957)
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko – Adagp, Paris, 2023
So how would Mark Rothko have responded to his stratospheric market prices today? “He would be very upset because it’s a major distraction; they become a commodity and trophy, they become something other than the experiential relationship [for the viewer sparked by his works],” Christopher Rothko says.
Today’s difficult global political climate would also have left an impression on him, the younger Rothko says. “He certainly was born into a socialist family on the brink of the Russian revolution. They left in 1913…he lived through the Great Depression in New York. He was very concerned with his fellow common man. I cannot imagine he would be pleased with what he would see today.”
Asked how many works he had loaned to the show, Christopher Rothko said: “I’m always talking about my sister [Kate Rothko Prizel] and I; we always coordinate. Technically we’re two private collections but do everything together. We’ve loaned nearly 30 works. I wanted to bring paintings that Europeans would not have seen for the most part before and refresh [the selection].”
Mark Rothko’s Red on Maroon (1959) from the Tate’s Rothko Room
Credit: © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko – Adagp, Paris, 2023 / Photo: Tate
Crucially, Tate in London has loaned nine Seagram Murals by Mark Rothko—the gallery’s entire Rothko Room—to the exhibition. “It is powerful in the UK but certainly not lacking anything [by being] here,” Christopher Rothko says. Another important ensemble of four paintings (The Rothko Room) is on loan from the Phillips Collection in Washington DC.
Rothko committed suicide in 1970. The press statement says: “Even in the case of the 1969-1970 Black and Grey series, a simplistic interpretation of the work, associating grey and black with depression and suicide, is best avoided.” Christopher Rothko says that “this has been a reality of my life for 55 years. I try to cut out this direct connection of dark colours means depression and light colours don’t… there was no question he was very depressed at the end of his life but at that moment, he launches into a new style which was subtly different but a major step; he painted more paintings in those last two years than any other time in his life. It is never an easy formula… it’s always complicated.”
Suzanne Pagé, the artistic director of the Louis Vuitton Foundation, tells The Art Newspaper: “Rothko is completely apart [from other artists] and absolutely necessary for each of us today. He speaks about our fundamental emotions. It is paradoxical in a way—achieving profundity through abstract art.” Pagé adds in a statement: “At the heart of the exhibition are abstract works from the so-called ‘Classic’ period, from the late 1940s onwards, in which a unique colourist asserts himself in the radiant, mysterious brilliance of colour raised to incandescence.”
Mark Rothko’s Untitled (The Subway) (1937)
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko – Adagp, Paris, 2023
The artist’s only self-portrait dating from 1936, drawn from the collection of Christopher Rothko, opens the show. It is subsequently followed by paintings made in the 1930s depicting urban landscapes such as the New York subway. Later works from the 1940s reflect Rothko’s progression towards abstraction via his Multiform works.
“In his classic format, he is creating infinite possibilities. Each painting starts as a new experiment with a new set of feelings and ideas; at first blush, it might seem like there’s nothing there. He is completely suffused in the painting; he is bringing his beliefs at that moment to the painting. If you engage with the painting, you are essentially completing that process because the meaning for you is personal; you bring you own feelings and it’s an interaction,” Christopher Rothko says.
Rothko was especially reluctant to speak of his technique. “He did not want you thinking about him or the specifics of how he made the painting. If you’re preoccupied with those details, you’re taking yourself two steps away from the full impact of that interaction,” says Christopher Rothko. Dispensing with frames is also part of the experiential viewing process. “The painting through their borders have their own frames and the rectangles are moving as if they want to cross those borders; you don’t want to box them in,” he adds.
“Suzanne reminded me that it had been nearly 25 years since the last Rothko show in Paris [at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1999]. France has only two works in public collections [at the Centre Pompidou],” Christopher Rothko says, adding he is collaborating on a major paintings on paper show due to open at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC next month (19 November-31 March 2024). The show is scheduled to travel to the National Museum in Oslo next summer.
