What Happens When The Art World And The World Of “Get Rich Quick” Internet Marketing Collide?

May 11, 2009 by Bonnie Boots
Filed under Creativity, General

get-rich-quick-exhibit Too bad someone organizing an internet marketing seminar didn’t time it to open in May in West Hollywood right alongside the " Get Rich Quick!" exhibit at the Carmichael Gallery Of Contemporary Art. The gallery says the show "features a selection from the collections of our collectors." The show apparently pokes fun at both the art world and the world of internet marketing. It goes so far as publishing its online announcement of the show (running May 7 to May 28th, 2009) in the form of a "one pager," the sales page format traditionally used by internet marketers. I have to wonder –is using the one-pager too much of an inside j0ke to make the point, or have the conventions of "get rich quick" internet marketing really infested our culture to such an extent that you can make sly, "wink wink" references to it in this way? get-rich-quick-exhibit-full-ad The gallery "sales page" is online here, but assuming that the gallery will take this page down once the exhibit ends, here’s a peek at what their exhibit page online looks like. That long, framed, one-page sales pitch is the cliche of the internet marketing world. IM, of course, is where "Get Rich Quick" went to live once the back pages of comic books died out. The exhibit features rare originals and prints byAdam Neate, Antony Micallef, Banksy, Barry McGee, Bast, D*Face, Dalek, David Choe, David Choong Lee, Faile, Herbert Baglione, Ian Francis, KAWS, Nick Walker, Paul Insect, Shepard Fairey, Sixeart, Skullphone, Space Invader, Swoon, Will Barras and more. I don’t know if the print "6 Layer Spraypaint" by the artist BOXI, represented by the Carmichael Gallery, will be in this exhbiti, but it’s surelyspeaks to the idea that art becomes just a commodity when it’s marketed. Or is it that marketing becomes an art when it’s done by creative people? I’ll put my money on the latter. 6layer-spraypaint 6 Layer Spraypaint on 250mg Paper, Edition of 45 + 2APs – 23.6×31.5in (50×70cm) – 2009 $70 (Unframed) See more work by BOXI at the Carmichael Gallery Of Contemporary Art Photostream on Flickr. ### Bonnie Boots publishes The Internet Wizards Magazine for people that want to be more creative, make their own products and market on the internet. Keep in touch with her by registering your email in the subscribe box found in the upper rigt corner.