September – Knokke, Belgium

A vision of an artist, what he or she creates, arises from within – a passion, a feeling or an emotion.  My passion on the one hand encompasses painting, executing ideas and creating new things. On the other hand I am intrigued nay fascinated by consumer behaviour.  As you can read on my website : ‘Making a masterpiece into an icon, that’s what fascinates me. Transforming marketing into art’.

A quick reflection on people, companies or brands who are masters in the domain of marketing automatically throws up some famous names in the consumer goods sector.  There is a clear reason why I only use a few brands in my artwork: these brands are iconic, best in their domain and set the pace for the rest of their industry.  In my opinion they epitomize artisanal craftsmanship and refined marketing.

I bought this domain name to counter the notion that people would get confused and think that, if they see my artwork or the shirt and sweater that I created, they would think Dom Pérignon compensates me for my work.  Let us be clear, nothing could be further from the truth. I guess the fact that they have sued me proves that point.

But let’s be honest, if LVMH has to go after every artist that uses one of their brands (especially in the pop-art world – and without meaning any harm) then they could set up a company just for doing that.

Every artwork I make is handcrafted, limited and without copies, prints or series.. There can be different executions on a single theme but they are all handmade and thus unique.  All of my work can be found on www.instagram.com/cedric.art and www.facebook.com/cedric.aart .

Concerning clothing, I released one T-shirt and one Sweater in 2 years so I guess there is not really an argument for calling that a viable plan to construct a business on. Regarding these two garments, they are both inspired by a painting of mine and come with a caveat text which reads thus ‘ .. based on the artwork by Cedric.Art..’  to prevent any confusion which may arise.

Hundreds of artists, for many decades, have used brands as a reference (be it positive or negative) to illustrate their vision on society.  Pop-art for example is a movement in which many artists find their inspiration and it’s an art form which is livelier than ever. Art is adaptable and constantly evolving in its themes, media and methods and not static or cast in stone.

Conclusion: That is why I think that there has been an oversight at the Dom Pérignon headquarters.. I understand that there are employees assigned with the task to scan the markets in order to find copyright infringements, and their work is necessary for brand protection.  But attacking an upcoming artist would be setting a strange precedent and sending the wrong message to the art community. This is a mistake that can be resolved.

I don’t have big budgets for expensive lawyers so this website is my voice to the world.

Thank you for reading,

Cedric

cedric@notdomperignon.com

The above is totally my opinion.. Everybody has the right to see things differently but I would love to continue with my passion and bring a positive message to the world through my artwork.

Below you can find some pictures that are free to use, please insert copyright : for the first 4 (Malumax ®) for the others (Cedric.Art ® )