Droga 5 ad agency - proudly Australian owned

Droga 5 is an independent advertising agency established in 2006 headed by David Droga who grew up in the Snowy Mountain region of NSW.  To date, he is the single most awarded creative at the Cannes Lions, international advertising festival, with over 50 lions. He was named World's Best Creative Director by AdAge.
           His philosophy of advertising has made him appear to be distinct from other ad agencies. He believes that advertising is not just about capital gain but also as a tool to give positive impact on society that doesn't end when a campaign is over.
          David Droga has been featured many times in advertising magazines, newspapers, and other media because of his impactful works. New York Times in 2006 , for example, featured one of his campaign that has impacted society, The Tap Project for UNICEF.  

          This campaign encouraged diners in New York to donate $1 for tap water in order to help provide clean drinking water in Africa and it managed to raise more than 1.5 millions USD of funds. However, New York Times used references from Esquire magazine, which made the article lack of originality and newness. Other media also talked with the same angle. As a big media, New York Times supposedly conducted an interview with David Droga or his client UNICEF to get a different perspective.
          New York Times could also add short interviews with New York diners or restaurants who are participated in this campaign to get their opinion, which could add reality value to the article. 


Short video of Tap Water Campaign:

17th Biennale of SYDNEY - Everyone wants to understand art

 "This is what the Biennale aims to do: to open minds, to challenge ideas and to stimulate thinking." the Biennale's chief executive, Marah Braye, says.


Biennale is Italian for "every other year". It is most commonly used within the art world to describe an international manifestation of contemporary art (wikipedia). Biennale held in many countries including Australia. The 17th Biennale of Sydney was held from 12 May-1 August 2010 in Cockatoo Island.

Adam Fulton, a Sydney Morning Herald journalist who reports on the arts and entertainment such as as movies and music, wrote an article about this exhibition. He writes: "expect spectacular moments as Sydney is turned into a giant gallery" for its sub headline. It give readers a hint of what biennale is about  before they continue reading the content. He also interviewed David Elliot, The curator of Sydney's 17th Biennale, to explain about the concept behind and the aim Biennale of Sydney.

"Neo Thousand Armed Kannon"
Hisashi Tenmyouya
(acrylic on wood)

The target audiences for this article are art lovers, artists, art and design students. Fulton mentions some prominent artists from various countries and some works that highlighted at the launch, from paintings to installations and new-media art, such as Kader Attia's shantytown-like installation and Hisashi Tenmyouya's triptych depicting a 1000-armed Japanese god, and Brook Andrew's inflatable Jumping Castle War Memorial.

"Jumping Castle War Memorial"
Brook Andrew

"Kasbah"
Kader Attia

At the end of the article, Fulton explains that Elliot has dedicated the Biennale to Waterlow, the former curator of Sydney's biennales in 1979,1986 and 1988, who was killed in Randwick last year. It is an appealing statement to conclude the article because Nick Waterlow was the Biennale's most prolific artistic director and served on the Biennale's Board for 11 years (1994-2005).

Aboriginal Art - It's more than just an art, learn it and you will love it (hopefully..)

Aboriginal art has uniqueness and cultural significance that can be easily distinguished from other art styles and it is the world's longest continuing art tradition. Art, for the Indigenous peoples, means knowledge that used to attain status. It is central to their life. (Caruana 2003, 10)

National Geographic correspondent David Betz who is a curator of Songlines Aboriginal Art Gallery in San Francisco-Amsterdam wrote a traveler article about the art, painting in particular. He used narrative and descriptive writing style in explaining its history, value, and style. It helps readers to appreciate the art more and leave a trace of curiosity. David doesn't put a picture of Aboriginal painting but instead he describes it in words. If the intended reader is art collector it will be better if he also put a painting picture as he explains about promising future in Aboriginal painting. It will provide a visual aid to grab reader's attention.

The purpose of his writing is to explain significance behind the art that is related to Aboriginal culture especially their spiritual belief and also to give a new perspective to people that the artwork is now much valuable than it was and has achieved worldwide recognition. He mentions that in '90s paintings sold for a few thousand dollars but now fetch prices in excess of $60,000. 

However, National Geographic has intention to use the article as tourism purpose, giving the reader an information about new travel destination that they should consider. They try to convince people to go to the Aboriginal communities in Northern Territory and Western Australia if they want to buy Aboriginal art. In my opinion, this article should be classified as art and culture not tourism.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/articles/1077aboriginalart.html

Fashion Advertising - A love-hate relationship

Fashion is often described as glamour and luxury yet a very competitive industry. Fashion advertising is a branch within the advertising field that often avoided by traditional ad agencies in Australia. AdNews - Australia's top-selling advertising magazine wrote an investigation about this condition and it clearly explained the reason behind it through some interviews with creative directors and director from ad agencies (Block, The Glue Society, Publicis Mojo, Frost Design). I found the article is very informative and well structured, giving clear explanation and example to make it easy to understand.

AdNews collected opinions from the ad agencies that have been involved in fashion industry which is the best way to get the insight of the situation. They know exactly the nature of relationship between fashion advertiser and ad agency. It has been described as a love-hate relationship.

"Fashion advertising is all about style and emotion, and I don't think agencies are used to dealing with clients on that level.", says Mark Braddock, creative director at Block. His statement make me realized that I barely see a strong concept behind fashion ad because they accentuate strong feel for aesthetic and details in the execution part while traditional ad agencies believe that concept is everything.
Because of this, agencies resent this kind of strategic planning, whereas design studios find it stimulating.
It is not surprising then if many of Australia's biggest fashion names like Collete Dinnigan, Lisa Ho, Sass & Bide, Marcs and Country Road prefer to work with consultancies with a strong design focus like Eskimo or Moon, or design studios like Killanoodle in Sydney. (Barbara Messer)

Big ad agencies such as M&C Saatchi and Clemenger BBDO have had their hands on fashion advertising and it still uncertain wether they are willing to dip in again or not. They surely prefer to stick with retail which is by far the country's largest advertising category.

Value of a painting - Who said painters are poor? they are RICH! (well some of them..)

The current boom in contemporary Chinese art has raised questions and speculations. Some people willing to pay million dollar on a painting which is painted by a new artist. This seems unlogical.
CNN and New York Times published articles on this development. "In 2006 Sotheby's and Christie's, the world's biggest auction houses, sold $190 million worth of Asian contemporary art, most of it Chinese, in a series of record-breaking auctions in New York, London and Hong Kong." (New York Times).

The most expensive Chinese contemporary art ever sold was painted by Zeng Fanzhi. His "Mask Series 1996 No. 6" sold for AUD 10,775,500; price of 4 or 5 penthouses in Sydney CBD area.

He was one of the top 5 Chinese artist. Below is the example of not-yet-top five but still it has unreasonable price.
 

This 120 x 80 cm painting was sold at Christie's auction in Hongkong December 2008 for AUD 276,000. Why does it cost so much? It didn't use lots of colours, regular size of painting, not many details, not even have historical value since it's a contemporary one and it doesn't look beautiful.

A wellknown Chinese newspaper appraised him as an artist who has earned plenty of respect - and money - from his work. His paintings being regarded as a colorful and striking, bravely using Western skills and experimenting with personal expression as opposed to traditional realism.

I partly agree with the statement. I guess my taste is different from those who love the painting. Surely he has uniqueness in his paintings, the half-life looking and gloomy green colour. Rare concept perhaps? The only reason that make sense is the art is over-commersialized. People buy paintings as a new form of investment.

The writer only focused on the painter background and his achievements which only give one point of view. It would be better if they include opinions from art experts. People with no knowledge in art will not be able to understand why the painting has such distinct values.