Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Cloud nine

In the latest round of National Bank ads, Cody the black stallion takes a back seat to art. We’re not talking generic art lookalikes out of a design shop here, but commissioned work by John Reynolds, an artist who has work in every major art museum in the country and who represented New Zealand at the 2006 Biennale of Sydney. The paintings are in Reynolds’ signature style with small canvases, some piled on top of one another. ‘Smaller repayments’ one of them tempts. “Fix for how long?” another slyly questions. Also part of the team is Hawke’s Bay artist Martin Poppelwell. In the ad a young couple unwrap the works from their protective bubble wrap and Academy-hang them on their living room wall before stepping back to gaze lovingly at this strange poem to banking. Recessions are for babies.
Thanks for the heads up W