Warner Bronkhorst, Unique Styles and Louis Vuitton
And also some recent Amsterdam Photos!!
Even if you don’t know Werner Bronkhorst by name, you’ve probably seen his work.
Maybe it was on Instagram: thick, expressive paint layered onto canvas, with tiny, precise figures drawn into the chaos, or maybe you saw a clip of him painting while his baby hung in a harness across his chest. Nonetheless, his art has racked up millions of views and his painting have become distinctive, leading him to host shows around the world, where fans flock to see what they only could in a screen.
Since I discovered his work, I’ve been mesmerized by what it conveys. By placing often solitary human figures into worlds of abstraction, Bronkhorst speaks to the confusion and overwhelm of modern life, capturing how it feels to be small in a world that doesn’t always make sense. In playing with scale, he reminds viewers that it’s not that serious, and that despite all of us being very different, in this we’re the same, and thus not alone.
A few weeks ago, Louis Vuitton unveiled a new line of wallets. At first glance, they looked like a collaboration with Bronkhorst. The color palettes, the brush-like abstractions, the detailed figures—but it wasn’t a collaboration, it wasn’t even credited. The designs had nothing to do with him.
The similarities are hard to ignore, and given the comments, Bronkhorst is likely to sue LV for the appropriation. On one hand, some argue that a style can’t really be copyrighted, if LV didn’t use Bronkhorst’s patterns exactly, then he doesn’t really have grounds to fight, but on the other hand, when someone becomes so intrinsically linked with a style, specially as specific as this is, it’s hard to argue that they don’t deserve credit.
Independent of whether the designs are direct copies of his work, if Bronkhorst hadn’t gone viral, then the design wouldn’t be in the public consciousness as the equivalent of “creative,” “meaningful,” and “original,” meaning that without Bronkhorst, its unclear if the wallets would sell the same way or have the same appeal.
This eventually will probably be a bit of a PR disaster for LV but not much more, while for Bronkhorst it will be a draining fight to maintain the integrity of his work and his style, not only in the material sense, but also in the meaning. After all, if he aimed to inspire connection, context, and a shared sense of humanity, a $400 wallet is hardly synonymous with that idea.
Also: Here are some photos I took in Amsterdam last week
Nine out of ten days, the Amsterdam sky is an un-textured gray canvas: no colors, no clouds, no openings with light. If there are no other hints in sight, it could be 10AM or 3PM, it could be March, or it could be October. But in spring, when the weather is like a teenager, unsure of who it wants to be, clouds form, dark and moody, letting themselves be interrupted by rays of light.
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love this piece! We need more people talking about big brands stealing from artists!!