Thinking about branding, advertising, target audience, etc
Alex Vivian

Thinking about branding, advertising, target audience, etc. was a new, major, solo exhibition by Melbourne artist Alex Vivian. For the exhibition, Vivian presented a new body of work that took found objects and clothing as the basis for new sculptures and images. Building on his then-recent exhibition at flake, To propose a petroleum jelly advertisement or campaign (2013), Thinking about branding, advertising, target audience, etc. approached food and food packaging in general, and condiments specifically, as an accessory, rather than fuel for the body. Vivian explained:

A logo is favoured among a certain age group. It is the youth.

A mayonnaise logo safety-pinned to the back of a backpack, used as a prop in a crude show, copied and sketched and drawn over and over again.

They say the youth breed new ideas, are most receptive to the advertising of products… and of food in general.

Food isn’t for eating, it is to be thought of as merely a product, an object of striking colour, an advertisement to be adorned on one’s clothing.

The youth are wearing these ideas, these products.

Thick mayonnaise is mixed with other condiments as an accent to an outfit. Lathered on jackets, combed through hair. Food is used to encourage a new approach to food, almost as a way to repel interaction!

To be around food, but be in a constant state of desperation and unfed.

It is said you think differently when your mind is somewhere else…

A delicious frock, Rank and expired bell-bottoms, mother's sapid boot, fetid Seuss hat, a scrumptious leather shirt.

Alex Vivian, born 1981. Lives and works in Melbourne, Victoria. Selected solo exhibitions: Debut Stand (with Lou Hubbard), Westspace, Melbourne, 2014; Dirt Season Lookbook, Sutton Projects, Melbourne, 2013; To propose a Petroleum jelly advertisement or campaign, flake, Melbourne, 2013; Mens apparel, distressed, Craft Victoria, Melbourne, 2012; Breakfast stains decorate a hooded sweatshirt (ideas to be laundered), Galleria, Perth, 2012; An oversized jacket, jeans that fit, Hopkinson and Cundy, Auckland, 2011. Selected group exhibitions: Implicated and Immune, Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland, 2015; Carpet burn, Papkura Art Gallery, Auckland, 2014; Know who you are at every age, 3106 W Fullerton, Chicago, 2014; New Argument Stream, Slopes, Melbourne, 2014; The office, ACL Partners, Paris, 2014; Regimes of Value, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, 2013.