Two Great Brand Names Together at Last

Robert Boyd

I was in the Galleria the other day when I saw this.


Rob Pruitt is no longer a mere artist--he's a brand

It's a little hard to see, but that's Rob Pruitt's name on the window on the left side of this Jimmy Choo storefront. The black and white image is also advertising Pruitt, and those shoes in the window were designed by him. I thought they looked hideous, but what do I know about fashionable ladies' shoes? I wasn't shocked to see this marriage of art and mall commercialism--in the same mall, you can see Yayoi Kusama-branded stuff at the Louis Vuitton store. But it does occur to me that once upon a time, this kind of thing would have been considered "selling out." Of course, we scoff at that now. The notion that your art should to some extent be above mere commerce seems quaint. It's something hippies would care about, and we have, as a society, been gleefully punching hippies for more than 30 years. But all you "sell-outs" beware--this election saw signs of the hippies punching back.