I was not too sure what to expect from the 'Lacoste Elysee Prize 2010', but I imagined it would contain a lot of people licking Lacoste with glossy, beautifully cropped; sunset like photographs all making space on their CV for the winning title. I was happily surprised to find that the artists had not fallen to their knees in order to accommodate.
Ueli Alder put forward a nice palette of subtle tones focusing on run down tennis courts with cracks running through, which would harbor gaming but emphasizes the determination of would be players. This doesn't in any way highlight the branding of Lacoste but would fit in snug with one of their campaigns or stand independent as a work.
Benjamin Beker's work could stand independently but fits better within the brief. The piece that stands out for me is the block of flats with each floor holding a block of colour exaggerating its concept on the top floors. Each of the colours used relates to the Lacoste brand colour pallet. This is an innovate use of the brief and is well balanced.
Jen Davis, like other participating artists seems to have disregarded the brief and only at the end added it and bended it to suit her work instead of visa versa. Her work is subtle again like Ueli Alder; she uses a soft palette to create portraits within mirrors illustrating desire with an odd, almost un-noticeable Lacoste t-shirt thrown in. If seen outside of this context, the Lacoste logo would be a mere cultural reference, if anything. Her work is very intriguing and is reminiscent of Nan Godin’s work.
Richard Mosse's work is undoubtedly the most interesting of all the participants. Mosse went to Ethiopia and concluded that in essence clothing is a commodity, a trade commodity as it has a use value. Mosse then traded the Lacoste shirt with Ethiopians he met; in return he was allowed to take their portrait. This project brings up questions of commodity. It puts in front of us the issues of not only consumption but of capitalism and the ideology of branding. When these Lacoste shirts are taken out of billboards or other marketed settings we see that it is just a mere cloth. When placed upon the head of an Ethiopian carrying a gun it is put into perspective, the relevance of it all. The works are also aesthetically balanced and greatly executed with magnificent usage of colour, which is wonderful as Mosse uses a one shot only policy. I think that Mosse's work deserves to be appreciated not only in this situation but also on a far grander scale.
Ironically the winner of the prize, quite similar with his bold angle was Di Liu whose work is outstanding yet outlandishly criticizes Lacoste by saying that it is against nature but skates around this by claiming that, as Lacoste uses an animal as its logo it therefore reflects nature’s spirit. Di Liu's work shows us 3 photographs of urban China; however the dominating features in these pieces are the tremendously large animals that take center stage, the rabbit, rhino and deer which without consent immediately grab your eye and thought.
All in all the participants have created some great work which is innovative and brave. I hope, however that the artists do not get swallowed by the marketing industry.
