Brand 1.wps With Illus

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Press Release: Announcing THE SAATCHI BRANDING IRON (for branding artists’ flesh, dead cows, sheep and sharks, etc.) A limited edition work of art conceived by John A Walker One cannot help but think of Saatchi as a "brand manager" , Neil Manson (2004)

You are nobody in contemporary art until you have been branded. Don Thompson (2008) The word ‘brand’ has several meanings; one of which is a trademark or trade name employed to identify a product; another is a mark of ownership made by imprinting or burning a metal sign, word or initials into the flesh of a human slave or animal. Brands and branding are subjects much discussed in the advertising industry in which Charles Saatchi worked for several decades. Don Thompson, a recent writer on the art market, has stressed the importance for the careers of young or emerging

artists of being represented by a brand-name dealer or gallery such as Larry Gagosian. Thompson speaks of branded auction houses, collectors, dealers, art fairs and even branded artists. Arguably, as an art collector Saatchi has become a brand in his own right - when he buys art works they and the artists who created them are immediately branded. The art works become his private property and appear on his website, in his gallery, exhibitions, catalogues and press reports, and the artists become known as Saatchi protégés. In many cases, the added value of his brand increases the financial value of the art works he owns and boosts the careers of the artists concerned. The Saatchi Branding Iron, conceived in the tradition of Marcel Duchamp’s assisted readymades, Jasper Johns’ sculpture ‘The Critic Sees’ (1964) and Richard Hamilton’s multiple ‘The Critic Laughs’ (1968), makes this process visible and explicit.

Coming soon: The GOGO and JAY JOP Branding Irons. To avoid disappointment, place your order NOW! John A. Walker is a painter, art historian and co-author of the book Supercollector: A Critique of Charles Saatchi.