Artist Lou Patrou on agents, apparel and the power of art brands

Lou, thanks for making time. Can you give our readers a brief resume of your career to date?
I am a fine artist first – meaning that I create physical drawings and paintings to be exhibited in galleries and later published in art and design magazines around the world. I started drawing as a teenager in the 1960s and still love the process and physicality of drawing and painting today. I also go after opportunities to get my work into public spaces and art events. I have several commissioned artworks in a New York City hospital, have had banners and flags on buildings and outdoor billboards in Miami and New Orleans and have had my work in the London Tube.

I will always consider myself a fine artist who paints and draws rather than someone that generates computer-designed patterns for license. My art has always been very personal and a treasured passion, never to be stressed with someone else’s directives or saddled with obligation. Commercialising my art with licensing is a different ball game and makes perfect sense to me because it doesn’t alter or affect the original paintings and drawings.

“I started exploring licensing by accident about 15 years ago when friends began asking for t-shirts of my work.”

So how did licensing first enter the scene?
I started exploring licensing by accident about 15 years ago when friends began asking for t-shirts of my work. Later, when I created the Hank & Sylvie drawings in 2010, fans started asking for stickers and coffee mugs of them. It dawned on me that Hank & Sylvie should be their own kitschy character brand and licensed for everything something like Hello Kitty is licensed for. The more I developed their imagery – first as rendered colourised heads and then as silhouettes – it became obvious that they were a natural for almost endless applications in both lifestyle and apparel.

The idea of seeing my paintings and designs reproduced onto products is a thrill because it gives them a new purpose, while these platforms widen the audience for the work. In some cases, people are actually a walking art exhibition of my paintings!

You mentioned Hank & Sylvie there, and you have a slate of brands. Can you tell us about them?
Yes, I have three brands. As mentioned, Hank & Sylvie is a wide reaching kitschy retro brand that fits into many categories with many processes and materials. The brand can also be utilised as separate brands for men and women individually as Hank for men and Sylvie for women. People can find more on that here: www.hankandsylvie.com.

Patrou is the art and design brand that follows my career as a fine artist. The licensing side supports my art, and the art supports the brand. When a licensee partners with a living artist, you get his support as well as an ever expanding catalogue of original images. There’s more on Patrou here: www.patrou.com/products.htm.

Finally, 011 is a women’s brand for high style fashion and accessories. The site for 011 is www.011co.com.

I notice in some markets that you work with licensing agents. Why is that?
My three brands are targeted to apparel and lifestyle applications. Representation is simply broken down by territory, the US and EU. I have two amazing agents that I work with: Janice Hamlin of Marketing Immersion in LA is my agent for the US, while Jeannine Lafebre of Lafebre Licensing in Amsterdam represents me in the European markets.

They are focusing on getting deals that would involve collaborations with apparel brands to get in the door – and then follow up with accessories. Both Janice and Jeannine are incredibly tuned into the markets I am trying to penetrate and see the massive future for integrating contemporary art with products.

What do you think makes a good licensing agent?
For me, a good agent – beyond the basics of securing deals – is someone who ‘gets’ my work. Janice and Jeannine are extremely passionate about my art and see the enormous commercial possibilities once these brands break through. This kind of special synergy comes along only once in a while and adds so much kick to the relationship. They are not good licensing agents – they are next level great!

“The idea of seeing my paintings and designs reproduced onto products is a thrill because it gives them a new purpose.”

When creating new art and design work, how do you research the market and identify gaps?
I really don’t do any research as it relates to what I will paint or draw next. I create my art with an open mind… There’s no agenda, boundaries, targets or themes of any kind that might interfere or poison the inspiration of the new work. I do my art purely for my personal pleasure and never know what it will become in the beginning stages. If it later satisfies a possible design application that can be repurposed into a great licensable icon, that’s serendipity.

On the trends front, what have noticed this year?
When it comes to properties on hoodies, tees and accessories, people are getting a lot more sophisticated now. There is a tidal wave of graphic design out there in everything from vinyl collectibles, concert posters, immersive installations, skateboard culture, street art, tattoo culture, pop culture conventions and art pop-up events. These people have been introduced to new visual tastes and they want more than superhero art… They want something bad ass cool.

As far as the rest of fashion goes, you can see it happening there as well with all the artist collaborations. Apparel is always on the move, like music. It’s always looking for an edge and fresh creative ideas.

Looking at the wider licensing market, what role do you think art licensing has to play in the market?
Art and design is finally getting its due exposure. We have all seen how art can grow entire communities and towns. First the artists move in, then the art galleries spring up and then the coffee and pastry shops follow behind and presto! You have a revitalised hot community. That is the power of art – from a painted canvas to real estate developers.

Entire destinations like Burning Man, Comic-Con and tattoo conventions are built of art. The merging of public art, fine art and pop culture imagery together with products is inevitable. It’s wide open, anybody can be the next big thing, what’s needed is for executives to see that vision, take that chance on a new property and pull the trigger on something fresh and original.

As an independent artist, what advice do you have for other artists about how you promote yourself and your work?
Get your work seen by as many eyes as you can: in a gallery, in a newspaper or magazine, on blogs and websites and on social media. The more platforms, venues and publications you can get into the better. Notoriety and exposure are the marketing fuels that drive your career as an artist.

Have there been particular artists and art styles that have influenced your work?
I am inspired by all types of contemporary artists. I am intrigued with the odd, the surreal and elegantly bizarre – and some decorative and narrative painters as well. Paintings and drawings that show incredible imagination, out of this world rendering skills and drawing techniques also interest me very much.

I follow a lot of pop culture/pop surrealist painters like Robert Williams, Mark Ryden, poster and collectibles designers like Frank Kozik and Coop and street artists like Nychos and Ron English.

Finally, if you could loan three pieces of art from other artists for a Lou Patrou-curated exhibition, what would they be and why?
Some of my all-time favourite artists are Robert Crumb, the father of underground comix, and H.R. Geiger, the man who is credited with creating biomechanical art and the designer of the Alien film franchise creatures and set pieces. The other two artists I really admire are both geniuses – M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali. They created some of the most beautiful and fantastic work I have ever seen. Choose anything from these artists in any combination and you would guarantee a very magical exhibition.

Lou, thanks again!