SAMSUNG & EDELMAN: SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ART CAMPAIGN
Den Bento
Artist
Creative Director
Public Speaker
Edelman
Comex
Samsung Ads
This is "Libertad" (Freedom). I picked that name because Samsung gave me all the liberty to create whatever I wished with their fridge, and because after a decade of creating Graphic Design for clients, for the first time to do my own art style.
My favorite part of seeing the reactions to this art piece was when people figured out there was a Quetzalcoatl there!
I was invited by the Marketing Agency "Colors" to create a piece to donate for this show.
Edelman (PR International Agency) and I worked really well in this project and I was invited to make a couple of murals in social responsible events they coordinated with pharmaceuticals and other corporations. This was the birth of a stage in my career when my creations were donated for different social projects.
This art piece was delivered in October of 2007 and toured around parks in Mexico City for several months in the spring and summer of 2008.
To create a point of focus and challenge, I decided to include the face of the Quetzalcoatl divided in two perspectives, half of it on one side of the fridge and the other in the freezer door, so when it opens, it shows the full face, while when being closed it completes a circular mural that has 3 levels.
The bottom, the middle and the top, telling the whole story from the conquest of the Spaniards up to 2010 where the vision of that magical world was focused on. The best way to see the fridge was reading the story from top to bottom going around it reading the whole story while going up.
It is really a beautiful experience! So much texture and layering of paint, make this my favorite handmade artwork, because of all the challenges to make this project a success.
This was so long ago that I had to upscale some of the images to show them here with less pixelation. I also want to show that no matter how good AI tries to get, it still cant handle basic stuff needed for great results in printed or even web materials. There are no reasons yet to think or even buy the idea that artists or designers THAT ACTUALLY DELIVER QUALITY are not needed anymore. I hope this knowledge that comes from a lot of invested time and money in AI (I love innovations and tech) will help some of the younger generations to not give up on getting good at what they do! Their expertise will always be the key that opens any path for them to be the best they can be. Forget AI being better, its not.
THE MAKING OF & SOLUTIONS CHOSEN TO ACHIEVE THE IDEAS
This are the black and white and color sketches I presented to contest for a fridge and from this idea where the full panoramic story can be seen, I measured height and width of each side to create four equal panels that I later projected and trace in the physical fridge. The toughest part was to keep the correct perspective because of the rotating of the fridge.
It took me one month to create, with the great problem that for quality and exterior environments I had to figure out a way to paint over metal, so I decided to use automotive paint which I had to create vertically! It was a challenge but actually all the dripping in the end became part of the design lines. So looking back, I believe this was a great project and delivery especially for the times and materials (including colors) of the time.
I used the sketches to guide myself on the base colors that will be outlined on the final process.
I discovered Mexican tech of holographic materials innovation, I was aware that hologram was a national invention that had influenced the world with its security and applications on certified documents and bills around the world.
I aimed to be able to bring a sort of "luminous color" compared to the monitors brightness to the design by the reflective colors in the hologram spaces where hologram was the equivalent to white, and that the energy and feeling that the fridge would give to the viewers was that of it being alive and in movement, sparkling as the viewer went around it observing the panoramic story around it.
I really was proud of the Mexican paint company Comex, the largest paint corporation in Latin America, who later sponsor several of my projects as well as the company that produced the secure holographic materials I used it to create an "Alebrije", a traditional legend magical being filled with mystical creatures, color and aliveness.
For some weird reason this custom signature in the fridge's logo, was something that people liked a lot! Here you can see the effect of color light and color paint as they combine. That effect makes a very attractive experience since colors merge and multiply in every angle that you look at it. I really achieved something that I had been trying to do in those times when colors were so limited and so far from how my imagination captures "spiritual colors", the experience you get beyond CMYK.
I created a sketch, then painted with sharpie in a transparent slide sheet, colorized in the back, projected on the fridge, created the papier-mâché with hologram security paper layers and white base paint, until every corner of it was painted in colors and outlines. It was a really long job. Hours and hours... today that fridge is at home! 16 years later, still going strong and used daily!
THE PAINTING PROCESS
Projecting the color sketch in the fridge. Getting this was the longest part!
This is the base of holographic papier-mâché application and the white base that helped me outline shapes.
The fumes of automotive paint inside my home were umbereable... it took me one full month of lung therapy and medications to actually recover from painting this. Same happened with my hands, I was so young and got arthritis since then because of the warm hands after very long painting sessions and having to wash out with thinner and water. It took a big load on my health, so I learnt my lesson... I have to be extremely careful with toxic materials and processes. The good thing is that so many years later, there are companies producing fabulous art materials and colors that could have replaced this process into an acrylic one. Through years I had to test all sorts of products but definately, never again automotive! lol
A LARGE MEDIA CAMPAIGN THAT LASTED 6 MONTHS (2007-2008)
This was a very big deal campaign. Not only because it was the pilot for Edelman into creating applied marketing campaigns hand by hand with a massive marketing agency and a handful of artists willing to donate work for a good cause.
It was touring around city parks for weeks and weeks, and was seen by hundreds of people in media outlets and live. In those times there were very few objects painted that were used as public art. It still exists everywhere in the country.
Because of the success it was to merge marketing, PR and creative artists for social responsible projects it became a massive trend, which in the end damaged artists badly while helped a lot of companies to make buck out of social responsibility.
I stopped doing this kind of work in 2013 after donating more than 7 years of work, I got married and I couldn't afford to work for no pay and just promotion.
Still, I absolutely believe that some of my best projects and professional experiences came from this collaborations with Edelman and other organizations in Mexico and USA.
Invitation for the auction that took place in the World Trade Center of Mexico City, in the Polyforum Siqueiros.
This mural was my inspiration in my younger years and this Mexican muralist work taught me a lot of what I worked through my life. So it was a tremendous honor for me that my artwork was shown in this location in particular. The site and news were a while ago, so I found this is the only left link about it:
Charity Art Auction, by Samsung and Televisa.
Place: Polyforum Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico City (Mexico)
Date: January 23, 2008
Under the works of the great muralists, of course among them Alfaro Siqueiros, a charity art auction was held, sponsored by Samsung, Fundación Televisa and Un Kilo de Ayuda.
"Personalize your refrigerator" was the name of the project led by Cristina Kahlo, a world-renowned photographer, along with 6 Mexican plastic artists: Sotolhongo, Leonardo Tezcucano, Sociedad Anónima, Denisse Bento and Guianeya Marín, who captured their Side by Side refrigerator. artistic work.
At the end of this project, these works of art were auctioned with the social purpose of raising funds to combat malnutrition in Mexico.
Giant Dome-Spheres were the perfect setting to show the public the 7 Side by Side refrigerators converted into artistic works. The participation of the well-known duet Jessy and Joy served to close such an original and outstanding event.
This was the website that was used for the campaign, where 2 winners of the park tour would paint their version of a fridge in paper and the winners were selected to win the other two fridges. I was selected by Samsung as the judge.
Thanks to this plaque placed beside the fridge around the parks and many events, I got new clients that I still work with!
The top design magazine in Mexico had a number on the project. I was super happy to be chosen for this project since all my previous work was considered Graphic Design. But those capacities allowed me to succeed in the most comprehensive piece of the show. i didn't want to print it, since my purpose was to develop a name as an artist and not just a designer.
This was the inauguration of the campaign, located in the showroom of a super cool concert with a very famous band.
I truly felt like a rockstar this day... For the first time in my life I lost the impostor syndrome that studying Graphic Design created on my perception as a professional creative. It was the marketing team of Samsung and the people in Edelman that trained me into becoming an Art Director and they kept inviting me for years on social responsible projects for children, which made a total difference in my development and self trust to engage in large creative projects, as well as to work in teams with great communication and responsibilities well distributed. I could talk hours on this experience and my joy.
It doesn't matter how many years have passed, Libertad! is by far the largest and most exciting project I have created, not only because it was the first art project I was invited to create, but because since then it has been a big part of my life, home and family.
Sincerely Samsung's fridge nano tech is impressive and it still works like a charm after 17 years this product was released.
Their selling point about preservation of natural foods is impressive! A lettuce can literally last a month in this fridge. As good as new. So overall Im in love with it! I do hug my fridge lol, it is very much alive!
