Joanna Gilbert: Nothing to Buy

Studio Fridays artist Joanna Gilbert has just completed her first term back after spending a year at Chelsea School of Art studying for her MA in Fine Art for which she was awarded a Distinction for her ‘Nothing to Buy’ work.

Nothing to Buy began through research into closed down or boarded up shops. As the final term progressed it grew into a pop-up digital art installation which transformed a vacant shop and most recently a billboard advertising the brand and installation in the MA final degree show.

With nothing to buy, just a memory or an experience to consume, this show injects life into the empty. Spiritually it aims to suggest that we actually have everything we need inside us. All the clutter, the products, the pressure to purchase is not justified as it won’t make us who we are. We already are who we are.

Nothing to Buy is a brand, a concept, a statement.

In her recent paper, ‘But the light… it’s so beautiful’ she describes how we are living in a hyper-consumerist society. Life is no longer about buying the necessitates. We buy for the sake of buying, and brands need to provide an experience to create value, trust and ultimately sales.

Using her background in marketing and branding, she looked at flagship retailers such as Nike and The Museum of Ice cream and referenced how they display their products as art installations.  Gilbert looked at galleries of today and spoke of immersive art, multimedia installations within Annka Kultys gallery, Tate Lates and Meow Wolf.

“ I see the future as collaborative, creative and constantly evolving and the lines between artists, gallerists and retailers becoming blurred.”

Since returning to Studio Fridays she has starting painting again….. and more impressive than ever!

Joanna Gilbert