SweetCapital-postcard

Sweet Capital

By tomolennon, 02/16/2013

Solo Exhibition

Date: February 21 – March 16, 2013
Location: ArtBarrage | 80 Spadina Ave. Suite 208 Toronto, ON Canada | tel:647 895 3374

Statement

If Starbucks was around in the sixties, would Audrey Hepburn have grabbed a cup in Breakfast at Tiffany’s?

These days it would be understood as product placement, a commonplace and expected occurrence. Cinema has become an accepted vehicle for advertising and actors flailing brands enliven the trend.

Sweet Capital is a new series of ballpoint pen drawings by Tomori Nagamoto, that incorporate iconic contemporary logos into renditions of recognizable photographs of Audrey Hepburn, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and other classic movie stars and musicians.

The trademarked logos he uses surround us and subconsciously enter our experience when we’re out on the streets. We don’t hear them screaming from billboards and bus shelters. Nagamoto wants us to take notice, not as a capitalist rebellion, but through a lens that places the Starbucks cups and McDonald’s take out bags in the hands of Hollywood’s beloved.

Tomori Nagamoto contributes to the practice of incorporating logos into art that has been trailblazed by superstars like Warhol and Banksy. He adds to this practice with a series of whimsical alterations of history in a fluid drawing style, adding a dash of very recognizable ‘corporate’ colours.