Creative Tech Events 2/5 - Billy Apple Exhibition
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Another event this time at the Auckland Art Gallery. Unlike a regular exhibition where an artist will be the one instigating the show this one was put on by the art gallery itself. This was done as more of a homage to the artist himself.
Because Billy Apple has such a wide rage of pieces in his collection the Gallery decided to put the exhibition on in his honour.
Billy Apple is a New Zealand artist who was originally born Barrie Bates. in 1960 he began making art pieces and in 1962 he changed his name leagally to Billy Apple. He is in his 80th year this year.
What was intriguing to me was what was being stated in an interview bing shown on a few screens. the interview was with a director of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand. He was talking about what the called “Closing the Loop”.
To get an idea of what is meant about this i should first talk about one of Billy’s first project he undertook. this occurred in the 60′s. Billy Apple trade mark style/theme for his work is that he deals with brands and branding as an idea and as also a means for physical art pieces. Back in the 60′s Billy was obsessed with shopping centre branding. He made multiple pieces related to shopping bags, signage, and labeling of products.
The “closing the loop” idea part of this was when Saatchi & Saatchi decided to release a line of products that had the Billy Apple logo on them. The intention of this was to show how the art of Billy Apply not only can come from the super market, but can also be put back into the supermarket.
Another intriguing part of this exhibition was the part where Billy Apples actual cells were on display. the cells had been tampered with to ensure they would never die under the right conditions. The intention of this was that Billy wanted to physically become a part of his exhibition. in essence to immortalise himself.