Art of Living with Capital Group
Capital Group to launch ‘the Art of Living’
The motto ‘Art of Living’ and the poster by Dennis Hopper mark the start of a new ad campaign. Vladislav Doronin (head of board, Capital Group) and Tony Shafrazi (Toni Shafrazi Gallery, New York) produced a visual concept for the company based on the latter’s poster that he had painted in partnership with Dennis Hopper. The poster features his famous picture ‘Fractured Girl’.
Fractured Girl by Dennis Hopper, L.A. 1964, is a photo from a hand-made ad poster by the famous Los-Angeles billboard company Foster and Clizer Dennis often took his friends with him to show works painted by the great masters of this half-forgotten genre. It was in the early-1960 that Dennis took his classical pictures of artists and his close friends: James Rosenquist, Henry Geldsachler, Peter Fonda, Airvin Bloom and many others. Fractures Girl is a dynamic and undoubtedly sexy image that reflects Hopper’ passion for cinema, painting and photography. It demonstrates his strong interest in advertising, painting and the popular culture of the Western coast – images related to cars and hand-made posters. This artistic genre is a perfect reflection of the ideas and principles professed by Capital Group whose buildings stand out thanks to their unconventional style, making the image of Moscow more modern and international.
“Our company is famous for its unconventional approach in development. We were the first to invite internationally-acclaimed architects and to design state-of-the-art buildings. We produced cutting-edge projects for big cities that defined new styles and set new living standards, said Vladislav Doronin. Capital Group finds it very important to be involved in current artistic activities. Over ten years ago it started shaping a new collection of modern art; today, Capital Group is one of the few companies that have their own corporate artistic collection of 80 items. In the coming September, it is to be exhibited in the Capital City. That was the reason why we also looked for new approaches in our promo campaign. We wanted to share our ideas about the art of architecture and development. We have taken one step further with ‘the Art of Living
This advertising campaign is an attempt to give people an opportunity to look at a poster as a work of art. We did not hesitate to break some rules due to our awareness of the fact that a viewer is certain to reflect on what is behind the picture that he or she sees. That is why our advertising campaign will develop into another art project aimed at Moscovites. We selected Dennis Hopper’s works because his vision of ad posters gives us a better understanding of an ad campaign. “Dennis Hopper’s pictures which he calls ‘Billboard Pictures’ uncover his strong interest in hand-made ad posters and, on the whole, in the work by artists who worked in Foster and Clyzer. His pictures are also reminiscent of the billboards that graces L.A.highways in the 1950s and early 1960. Before museums appeared in Los-Angeles, he always talked about his own feeling of travelling around ‘our museum’, says Tony Shafrazi.
The new ad campaign is part of a larger series of art projects launched by Capital Group in 2010m, i.a. the PhotoBiennale 2010 located in Capital City (Capital Group headquarters), the exclusive exhibition of Arne Quins’ works which is to open its doors in late April; Prix Pictet collection in May etc. The first black-and-white posters by Dennis Hopper are already gracing Moscow streets like the Garden Ring, the Lenin and Kutuzov avenues. The images of Capital Group’s key projects (multi-functional complexes Capital City, Legend of the Tsvetnoy (boulevard), Tricolor and a Barvikha Hills) will be displayed in the same style and in the monochrome format. The campaign will also be run in printed press, Internet, radio and on TV.
On Dennis Hopper
“I took James Rosenquist to the Foster and Clyzer fabric that produces posters in Los-Angeles. I took all of them there. I was simply obsessed. I took there every artist that came to L.A. I took them there right away so that they might see that awesome factory that produced all big posters in the city. Rosenquist liked it there,” said Dannis Hopper.
Dennis Hopper is an Oscar nominee. He is a famous actor, film-maker, artist, photographer and art collector. In the course of his 50-year-long career cinematic career he acted in films Easy Rider and Blue Velvet. He also played the role of a dedicated journalist in Apocalypse Today. In 2008 he was made a commander in the French Legion of Honor for his literary and artistic achievements.
Dennis Hopper, self-portrait, 1962
Dennis Hopper’s works were put on display all over the world, in museums like Stedelake (Amsterdam), the Hermitage (St.Petersburg), the Museum of Applied Art (Vienna), the Cinematic (Paris) and the Australian Cinema Centre (Melbourne). His first retrospective exhibition the Art of Living is scheduled to be held in July 2010 in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los-Angeles.
Los Angeles was the Pop Culture. Los Angeles was the posters. Los Angeles was the automotive culture. Los Angeles was the cinema stars and the embodiment of all Pop ideas, says Dennis Hopper.
Dennis Hopper, Dennis Hopper, Girl, shattered image(Fractured Girl). (billboard), L.A.,
1964. Gelatin - silver imprint.
