"Hard-Edge, Erotic Pop meets Tank Girl"

The above description is how Hugh MacLeod describes the work of Hazel Dooney - one of the most successfully rebellious Australian artists who has defined commercial success on her own terms. Now once again Hugh puts up a great blog post (which isn't unusual for him). On numerous occasions I find that my ideas and his overlap - which I find very cool.

About a week ago he conducted an interview with Hazel, in which he asked 10 questions about her art and her work and the conversation that ensued was intriguing to say the least.

What I found fascinating about Hazel is how she has developed her own unique (and radically different) approach to how she markets her work and how she markets herself as an artist. With one of his earlier questions Hugh asks about her decision to bag and circumvent the traditional gallery route by selling her work to collectors online. Her response was this:

Four years ago, I decided to quit the two highly regarded galleries in Sydney and Melbourne that were then representing my work. We had a dispute over how they wanted to position me and (believe it or not) constrain my prices. I found some very smart people in technology and business who were prepared to help me figure out a way to manage myself – not just marketing and selling my work but creating an infrastructure to manage every aspect of the business of it, from identifying and communicating with individual collectors and producing my own shows to expanding my online presence and exploiting tools such as social networks and email to develop a wider interest in my work and me. Since then, the value of my work has increased to five, maybe ten, times what it was five years ago, and 15 times what it was a decade ago and my career has radically expanded – as has my collector base.

I love it! Convergence in Australia - business meets technology meets culture!

Furthermore what I really find interesting is the way in which she is blurring the lines between art, advertisement and entertainment media. She's definitely fearless and pushing the business of art into new realms.

To wrap up the interview Hugh asked her how she sees her work evolving in the future. She says that "it's a commitment to a different way of working, both personally and professionally. And it'll evolve with the ideas within the work. In the end, that's all it's about."

As I read the whole interview I kept going back in my mind to the Warhol-ism post I wrote a few months back where I posed the question: how do we marry the ideas of commercialism and culture (like Andy did so well in the 60's, 70's and 80's) and creatively interpret his process for the 21st century? Well I believe Hazel is one very interesting example of this. So now with her on the radar I'll continue to seek more intriguing offspring of today's culture and commerce.

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Comment by Black Lily on August 25, 2009 at 1:30am: Nice! Okay, so this isn't really "Convergence" per se (since it's just a business meets culture vs. a business meets TECHNOLOGY meets culture thing), but it does fit the definition of "blurring the lines between art, advertisement and entertainment..." So, I wanted to help my friend, Brigitte (www.suitebrigitte.com) to get her name out there and she has these beautiful glossy business cards and flyers, right? But, I'm like, why does it have to be a business card? Why not something more memorable than a piece of paper? Something that still has your name/contact info on there, but would be less likely to be tossed away? Some small piece of art that someone would WANT to keep, even if they didn't necessarily think they'd need/use your services? (I had gone to a reggae show and these girls were walking up and sticking people on the ass with stickers for their rock-band and I just thought that was dope b/c it was really interactive and engaging and memorable ...and a wee bit naughty, too. Anyhoo, the stickers were cool (less "tossy" than a flyer), but they made me think why not go for something even more permanent/keep-sakeY? Like a button or a decorated shell/stone, or a pendant (she does earthy/holistic healing, so we're still toying around with some jewelry ideas that could be done en masse, on the cheap...like little leather bracelets with her website address inscribed, etc.). I ramble, but you get the point....making the marketing a KEEPABLE artpiece. Check out this business card for a Yoga studio.....Too clever, or TIGHT?

Comment by Goldi Gold on August 25, 2009 at 8:09am: Dope stuff fam!!!!

Comment by Rasul Sha'ir on August 25, 2009 at 2:05pm: Black Lily, I feel ya on all the ideas you wrote. They are dead on. What needs to be kept in mind is that not only does the "marketing" have to be unique but every brand touch point (i.e. her actual service, her blog, her business card, etc) needs to be to. That's what many make a mistake with. They make part of the business different/memorable but other parts don't follow suit. You need to look at the whole brand and figure out how to make each aspect of it remarkable. And that's not easy - if it was then everyone would be in business :-)

Comment by Rasul Sha'ir on August 25, 2009 at 2:13pm: Thanks for the shout out Goldi! Holla back!

Comment by Black Lily on August 26, 2009 at 3:13am: True that. And, no point in having dope marketing (on any and every touch point) if what you're selling is, at bottom, just "pollution" (I know some people use that term "pollution" to denote uncreative/unimaginative marketing, but here I refer to the actual product/service behind it all being unworthy of the remarkable hype, if you will). In the case of my friend, the very reason I was so hyped about her having a remarkable marketing touch point (via the business card/jewelry/artpiece thing) was because I felt so strongly that she was doing something remarkable in her work (combining a very artistic sensibility with her "alternative healing"/ Reiki practices) and I wanted her to have something that would communicate, even on a subliminal level, that she was offering something different and creative. Also, I thought that the people who would respond to that art-meets-marketing piece would be the VERY type of individuals she really longs to work with (her dream is to use her energetic healing to help spur creativity/ remove blocks and impediments for ARTISTS, so that they can be more productive). Check out this artwork that we're toying with for event flyers, etcetera. It's a painting of her eyes done by a friend of hers, an artist named Crol. What I LOVE about it (besides it just being a dope painting) is that it so speaks to exactly who she is without having to write out her whole bio (i.e. she's studied/trained in indigenous healing practices, she adores art/artists and she's not gonna bore you to death just chanting "ohm"...she's gonna get up and dance on a couple tables with you to heal. I think I've gone off on a tangeant and lost my point...but WHATEVS. Enjoy the purty artwork....

Comment by Rasul Sha'ir on August 26, 2009 at 6:40am: Nice! It seems like your girl has some key ingredients to make her brand sizzle! Just keep focusing on the value of her "difference" and she'll be good. I also like the image as well. Really striking! Keep me up to speed as to how it all progresses.

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