The New Patronage
Evolving from a contest between OCAD University and multinational company H&M, the project won the contest to appear on the intersection of Younge and Dundas of Toronto, as part of H&M’s “Outdoor Digital Painting Gallery”.
The project used the contest as a way of discussing the evolution of arts funding.
The text that was printed next to the image at Younge and Dundas, and was part of the application to the contest, follows:
This image investigates the changes and continuities that accompany painting in the transition into digital media. The contemporary, western tradition of painting originated in the Renaissance, and “The New Patronage” looks at that history through the lens of digital aesthetics and trends. The image contains the profile of a Renaissance statue, redrawn using Photoshop’s imitation of a painterly brushstroke, and placed in a setting heavily altered by digital effects. The history of painting’s patronage is also referenced in the contest this piece is participating in; a corporate entity (H&M) replaces the Renaissance era institutions, like the church and aristocracy.
