Three artists who use branding/advertising aesthetics as their medium and message, and why I’m leaning into this approach.
Barbara Kruger, “I shop therefore I am”
I visited Barbara Kruger’s exhibition at The Serpentine last year and was enamoured by it. Her most iconic work Untitled (I shop therefore I am) transforms Descartes’ philosophical statement into a critique of consumer culture, with recent video replays adding variations like “I shop therefore I hoard” and “I am therefore I hate.”
Her practice “frequently borrows from the techniques and aesthetics of advertising” while exploring “complex mechanisms of power, gender, class, consumerism, and capital.”
Why it’s relevant: Kruger uses advertising’s own visual language (sans-serif fonts, slogans & graphic design systems) to critique the very system she’s borrowing from.
Her work functions as both genuine design and pointed satire – you can’t tell where the ad ends and the art begins. The “I shop therefore I am” piece explicitly questions whether consumer identity has replaced philosophical existence, directly parallel to ThoughtCounter, asking whether we need to buy a tool to access our own consciousness.
Reflections: Kruger worked in advertising before becoming an artist, giving her insider knowledge of how persuasion works. In a similar way, having built Everpress and worked in e-commerce, this gives me the experience to parody it convincingly.
Her work succeeds because it looks exactly like what it critiques. ThoughtCounter needs that same quality – it must look genuinely sellable for it to land as intended.
Darren Cullen, Hell Bus
Darren Cullen created “Hell Bus” – an actual bus transformed into a mobile artwork that parodies Shell’s branding. The bus travels to festivals and events, using Shell’s visual identity to critique the oil company’s environmental destruction.
Why it’s relevant: Darren’s taken a corporate brand and has made it physically real as art/activism. It exists in public spaces where people encounter it like they would real advertising. The execution is so convincing that Shell itself felt threatened enough to send legal threats.
Reflections: I visited Hell Bus at Glastonbury Festival this year and had a brief conversation with Darren whilst there. It was inspiring to learn about his activism and approach. The installation insights about the harm big corp are doing to the environment were incredibly shocking. I wish they were more widely known and hats off to Darren for creating this. ThoughtCounter needs that same level of execution in terms of product, packaging & mission.
Jenny Hozler
Jenny Holzer is known for “thought-provoking, text-based installations and her creative use of electronic technology,” presenting work on “billboards, T-shirts, cups, condoms” and LED signs. She states: “I used language because I wanted to offer content that people – not necessarily art people – could understand.”
Why it’s relevant: She uses commercial display technology and consumer products to present her messages, making art indistinguishable from advertising until you actually read the content.
Her work exists in the same visual language as capitalism while questioning it. ThoughtCounter could follow this approach – looking like a premium product in retail spaces, using the same display technology and marketing language, but delivering messages that question consumerism.
Reflections: The LED aesthetic is perfect for ThoughtCounter’s showroom. The technology itself becomes neutral – it’s the content that shifts from commercial to contemplative.
Reflections and learning
In hindsight, it makes sense that I’m arriving here in my MA – the world of branding and advertising – having studied graphic design for my degree. It’s an area I feel very much at home in.
I’ve also been reflecting on what type of work I enjoy. I realise I love the philosophy, ideas, development of new concepts and also the communication of those ideas through branding, marketing and creative direction.
However, the detailed execution is not so much my thing. I don’t get the same buzz out of it.
I work best collaborating with specialists who can help execute on the vision. I think that assumes I’m more of a generalist but it means I can move faster and think bigger as a result.
I think there’s a valuable message and conversation in this work – so why not look to build and amplify it?
Sources:
https://creativereview.co.uk/barbara-kruger-serpentine-exhibition/
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/jenny-holzer-1307/5-ways-jenny-holzer-brought-art-streets