How everything started looking like art

Why your toothbrush has an identity crisis – when soup cans became icons. It all started with Andy Warhol starting at a Campbell's soup can thinking that it deserved to be in a museum. That seemingly innocent, though provocative thought unleashed a cultural avalanche that now has us living in a world where sneakers cost more than paintings by emerging artists and Apple Stores look like temples dedicated to the god of minimalism.

The Pop Art movement didn't just break barriers between "high" and "low" culture, but it handed every marketing department a permission slip to call everything art. Suddenly, originality became optional, concepts trumped craftsmanship, and the line between commercial and artistic intent got so blurry it might as well have been written in disappearing ink. 

© David Zwirner, Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth

© Penro Display, Shopping Interior

The era of the great artification

What began as artistic rebellion became the business strategy of the century. Toothbrushes no longer were just dental hygiene tools but new design objects with award-winning formal language. Cleaning products present themselves with Scandi aesthetic restraint, and even garbage bags sport minimalist packaging whispering that they are almost too sophisticated for bathroom cabinets.

This transformation was inevitable once industrialization made everything functionally similar. When every smartphone basically does the same thing, there is a need to make people feel something about your product. Brands became method actors, learning storytelling from novelists, identity creation from fashion designers, and cultural legitimacy from museum curators.

Shopping as performance art

The evidence is beautifully absurd: Apple Stores are indistinguishable from art galleries with their white spaces, minimal presentation, hushed tones. Supreme turned shopping into auction theater with artificial scarcity and prices that make art speculators blush. Fashion weeks morphed into performance spectacles where clothes are props in elaborate storytelling exercises.

The collaboration industrial complex churned out partnerships faster than you can say "limited edition" just as Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton, KAWS for everyone with a pulse, Banksy creating hotels that are simultaneously art installations and hospitality businesses. At this point, asking whether brands are using artists or artists using brands is like asking about the chicken and egg while they are both being served at a pop-up restaurant deigned by a famous architect.

Maison d'Art takes strategy as an art form

In this landscape of beautiful confusion, we at Maison d'Art emerge as both brand strategist and art advisor, recognizing that in a world of visual oversaturation, the clearest voice, not the loudest, wins the conversation in the end. We do not reject the post-pop-art reality, but embrace its possibilities while keeping artistic integrity intact. We understand that successful art communication today requires fluency in both Gallery and Commerce like being bilingual, but for culture.

Our approach acknowledges a crucial insight: in an artificialized world, genuine artistic expression becomes more powerful, not less, provided it's strategically positioned. We are not trying to turn back the clock to some imaginary golden age when art and commerce were like two repelling poles. Instead, we are helping navigate current reality with intelligence and intention.

The new cultural landscape

The artification of everyday life isn't a temporary trend. It's a structural transformation changing how we perceive beauty and define cultural value. This creates opportunities for those who understand both sides of the equation. Maison d'Art represents cultural translation, speaking both market and muse without losing accent in either language. We show how strategic clarity can help art flourish without selling its soul, and how brands can achieve cultural relevance without cultural appropriation.

The future belongs to those who can navigate the post-industrial, post-pop-art landscape with equal comfort in boardrooms and galleries. In a world where everything looks like art, the real art is knowing the difference and helping others see it too. Stay tuned for our follow-up on this topic. Can't wait? Drop us a line to start a personal conversation.

Yours truly,

Margot

MD'A sidenote: The Fourth Plinth is the northwest plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, originally intended for an equestrian statue of William IV but left empty for over 150 years due to lack of funds. In 1998, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce commissioned the first temporary contemporary sculptures for the site. Following public temporary artworks rather than a permanent installation. In 2003, ownership transferred from Westminster City Council to the Mayor of London, establishing the current Fourth Plinth Commission. The program is now managed by the Mayor of London's Culture Team under guidance from the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, which consists of specialist advisers who oversee the commissions. The initiative also includes an annual Fourth Plinth Schools Award that engages London primary and secondary schools in creative projects inspired by the plinth's artworks. Can you think of a suitable place in your city, near your building, or even on your premises? We are prepared to whatever it takes.