Rob Walker (Letters From New Orleans) continues his investigation of consumer branding with a group show (“As Real As It Gets”) organized in New York:
The ambiguity in the relationship between our selves and the brand-soaked world we navigate is exactly what’s worth taking seriously, not waving away. When such consideration is filtered through an open and unpredictable mind, anything seems possible (even the wildly implausible). Willfully imaginary brands and products can be considered as a medium, expressive of joy, fear, humor, unease, ambivalence — very real stuff, in other words.
