Miami Art Week 2019 Meet the Artist: Experience the Art Series
The Artist: Antonio Brasko
The Idea: The Acculturation of Graffiti, Street Art and Fashion
The Art: Brandalism
At the Spectrum Miami, I was drawn to the booth of artist Antonio Brasko and his collection Brandalism, a cheeky mashup of luxury labels and logos with low brow objects such as paint spray cans and boom boxes.
Brasko is one of more than 500 leading contemporary artists who showcased their works during the five-day art show and his work stands out for its cultural statement. I asked him about his ideas behind Brandalism.
“Brandalism started in 2006. I started using spray cans as the canvas for my work. The collection is inspired by a study about how these fashion brands have tapped into the world of graffiti and street art and they are reappropriated. This is my commentary on these brands. I’m showcasing a different perspective,” Brasko says.
Brasko reintroduces the ideology of vandalism and fashion from an experimental perspective. His fusion of style incorporates spray paint, streetwear and luxury branding. “I want Brandalism to resonate with the culture right now. It’s kind of a mashup of what’s going on in culture, art and fashion and how those cultures collide. My work is a commentary on how street art and luxury brands have intersected so they are almost like one right now,” Brasko says.
Brasko started as a graffiti artist with a background in graphic design having produced creative for brands including Adidas, Jaguar, Land Rover, Nike, Intel, Paris Saint-Germain, Wu-Tang Clan, Reigning Champ and more. He started his Brandalism collection with his Spray Paint Art Series and works from his creative design studio in Portland, Oregon. Using classic Montana spray paint cans, Brasko covers each luxury brand logos that represent a bridge between the worlds of street art and luxury brands.
I asked him how he picks his luxury brands and objects to create his art. “A lot of the brands have crossover into the world of street art or graffiti. That’s the first criteria when selecting mediums to work with. The second criteria is the color palette. It’s also a study on color. I create a spectrum of colors that tells the story,” Brasko says.
Brandalism is conceptual art and it strikes me as a bit of pop psychology, an examination of our cultural obsessions with brand names and attachment to logos as an expression of self-worth. Brasko’s art is provocative because it draws your own thoughts and interpretations about the current cultural moment.
He interlaces emblematic brands and their signature colors with cans and other objects as the basic means of graffiti art conveying its vandalistic ideals and the freedom that it proclaims.
Learn more about the art of Antonio Brasko in new episodes of The Design Tourist filmed at Miami Art Week.
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