Polo Jeans Art Stars project

Posted: June 5th, 2010 | Author: | Category: Art News | Tags: | 3 Comments »

Okay, you’re thinking: What’s this about Ralph Lauren? Why does some mainstream fashion brand have their logo prominently displayed in a post on Vandalog? Well, turns out, Ralph Lauren/Polo Jeans Co. likes art, and they like street art. Art Stars is a project with 51 artists who have painted or sculpted their artwork onto a 3D star-shaped canvas made of denim. Some of the artists include James Jessop, Herakut, Case, Daniel Tagno, Delta,  Bom K, Roa, Matt Small, L’Atlas and Alexone.

Case

So here’s the Art Star press release:

Polo Jeans Co. is proud to present ART STARS, a showcase of work from 51 of Europe’s most recognized up and coming contemporary artists. Inspired by the iconic American Star Spangled Banner and synonymous with the Polo Jeans Co. brand, the artists will create 3D pieces on stars made from the finest American denim. These will be displayed in select Polo Jeans Co. stores in key cities across Europe before coming together in a public exhibition in London in late 2010.

Representing Polo Jeans Co.’s core branding values, each young artist will be challenged to customize a canvas into a three dimensional star using an assortment of unique materials in combination with their practice to create their designs, including a variation of denim, replicas of the American flag, dyes, collage, bleach and embroidery. Beyond the shapes and sizes of the ART STARS, artists are only limited by their own imaginations in transforming the star and denim into a work of art that symbolizes their vision inspired by Polo.

Contemporary art and fashion aficionados will have the opportunity to own one of these exclusive Art Stars. All the stars created will be brought together in a public exhibition in London in late 2010 and auctioned in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. Teenage Cancer Trust is a charity dedicated to improving the lives of young people with cancer between the ages of 13-24.  Teenagers don’t stop being teenagers because they have cancer, which is why Teenage Cancer Trust builds specialist units in NHS hospitals, staffed by teenage cancer specialists. These units are designed for and by young people and aim to give teenage cancer patients the very best chance of a positive outcome whilst being as close as possible to normal life. State-of-the-art facilities keep patients occupied during long, and often grueling stays, whilst bringing teenagers with cancer together so they can support each other. Visit www.teenagecancertrust.org to find out more.

Delta

Stefan Strumbel

Photos courtesy of Ralph Lauren

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  • http://Website darcr

    So Polo jeans and Ralph Lauren like street art?? That’s probably the most naive statement I’ve heard this year. This has got nothing to do with street art, it’s about their “core branding values’ as stated in their press release. And I don’t give a fuck if they are giving money to cancer or not, in fact that makes this a whole lot more foul and obscene that they would use the pretence of an serious illness like that to disguise an advertising campaign. If they want to donate then just do it anonymously, I’m sure they can afford to do so without having to ride off the back of cancer to get publicity. This is an affront to both art and ill people. You’d better take that big fat corporate cock out of your mouth son, cause right now it looks like you’re just about to choke on it.

  • http://Website Rafarelli

    LOL!
    Darcr.
    On it son.
    I love wearing ralph lo, every day son.
    But none of these artists are proud of working for this shit, the money’s gotta come in somewhere though.
    But bigging it up… what?!
    Jokes.

  • http://www.vandalog.com RJ

    It’s marketing, no getting around that, but they could have hired a bunch of designers or illustrators or painters like Gavin Turk to do this project, instead they picked some more interesting artists. In the end, it’s money in the pockets of some good people because presumably those artists are being paid and some money is going to charity too. But yeah, it’s marketing, pretty much everything you see in the world is marketing. Don’t buy the jeans. The art still looks good. And actually, while you’re probably right that the CEO of Polo doesn’t care about street art, the guys who put together this artist roster actually do, so kudos to them for convincing a major company to part with some of their cash and give it to artists.