Art, absinthe and the scary coolness of Andrew Wyeth

As I continue the required reading for my new advertising job, I ran across a debate that snagged my attention, and I'd like to get your thoughts.

One of the writers said that advertising creative staffs largely are made up of artists who feel they're merely prostituting themselves to the corporate devil until they can get the backing for their "pure" art.

The writer's counter-argument is that advertising is in fact one of the most potent art forms, often trumping art that's made just for art's sake. My instinct was to disagree, but the more I think about it...

Take, for example, the Absinthe poster I've included here. Those of you who know me and Karen know that this has been hanging on our wall for years since we found a large lithograph in New Orleans. It's my absolute favorite piece of art we own, with sentimental exceptions for paintings done by Karen and my sister.

And yet, it's an ad. Our other prominently displayed piece of art is a poster for Black Hook, a beer made by Seattle's Red Hook brewery. The more I think about it, the more examples I find. We also had a vintage ad for passenger train service to Chicago, a framed menu from a French restaurant, and a poster for the They Might be Giants movie, "Gigantic." My sister's house, where we live now, has a massive framed advertisement for Isolobella liquor. These are all great pieces that everyone seems to notice (at least more often than pretty pictures of flowers).

So getting back to the point, if we as a society hate advertisements so much, why do we have so many intentionally placed around our houses?

This is where we get to the potency part. The goal of advertising, or good advertising, is to attract attention and then give the audience an emotional reaction: desire, need, happiness, comfort, etc. The people who produce such ads, and obviously even those who did it 100 years ago, focus much of their energy on giving this experience to the viewer. How can I make this poster resonate with someone's refined taste, so that they think: "Not only will I look at this ad for a few seconds, I might even make a space for it on my wall." Is there a better endorsement imaginable than someone taking your product and using it as decoration?

Looking back at pure art, the art produced by hungry young bohemians with goatees and thick-rimmed glasses, it's often made with the goal of showing the artist's emotional experience. They want to tell their story, and as the viewer, you often feel like it doesn't matter whether you're brought along for the journey or not. This is what drives me away from art. It's often a reflection of beauty with no real mystery, or it's a mystery with no doorways left open for the viewer. In a word, it's masturbatory.

Before anyone thinks I've become some sort of art-hating convert to consumerism, let me cite a quick exception. I will always have a deep love for Andrew Wyeth, whose paintings are powerful, rich, complex and borderline scary. I could look at them every day for a year and still feel different reactions. (The one posted here is "Christina's World." Of course, there are many other greats like him. But what makes him great is that he gives an openness to his art that makes you feel welcome to come in and look around without being confused or victimized by snobbery.

OK, your turn. I'd like you guys to post some of your favorites from either category: the ads that have become your art or the pure art that you believe to be the most powerful. Meanwhile, I'll be taking part in the antithesis of all that is artistic: my taxes.