New Mediums, New Forms Of Creativity

Whether an artist creates with spray paint, loops or in 6 seconds does not matter. Who people think of as “real artists” has fundamentally shifted, creating new audiences and ways for brands to express themselves. 

Here are 4 persona's creating this new visual landscape. 
 

The Remixer

Mark Ronson is a music producer and DJ who has worked with a variety of artist from Paul McCartney to Bruno Mars. His TED Talk brilliantly sums up how sampling has transformed music. Ronson said sampling isn’t about “hijacking nostalgia wholesale, it’s about inserting yourself into the narrative of a song while also pushing that story forward.” If you are in the camp that thinks sampling is ripping other people off, take a few minutes to watch this TED Talk and I am sure you will have a new opinion.

The Multi-Platform Street Artist

Banksy, the street artist who has yet to reveal his face,recently “took over” NYC in what I would describe as a mash-up of street art meets scavenger hunt. Fans got clues on where Banksy would be next via short cryptic messages on social platforms they would have to decode in order to determine the location.

The intention was not simply in finding the location, it was getting there before the art was covered up or gone. The levels of engagement and chatter across the social sphere was something a brand would have paid millions for. Personally, I thought this was a brilliant “exhibit” that connected people with the art. Of course, there are the “real art" pundits who claim Banksy is not a real artist because his work is not in a gallery or meets some other criteria they learned in art history.

The iPhoneographer

Singapore-based photographer Aik Beng Chia is just one of hundreds who have been recognized for their storytelling through photography from their mobile phones. Aik Beng Chia started photographing in 2008 with a focus on the daily lives of people on the streets of Singapore. In 2013, he launched “Tonight The Streets Are Ours” published by the Invisible Photographer Asia, which showed Singapore’s Little India after dusk.

The 6-second storyteller

Twitter’s 140 character limitation got people to say more with less words. Vine, Twitter’s short video platform, took it a step further by giving creators 6 seconds to get their point across in more than words. Both have ushered in a new era of short form storytellers like the @Klarity. More than 2 million people tune in to see his hilarious and sometimes risque short skits.