RVCA, Artist Network Program (ANP)
Yes. Volcom and apparently every other company now has their own network, collabo or creative togetherness program… However, no one does it with more professionalism and completeness than RVCA. In addition to their impressive roster of athletes, RVCA boasts a roundup of “artists” and “advocates” that are arguably even bigger in their respective spheres of excellence (i.e. whether it be art, music, film, etc.). And no matter what your personal sense of style might be, most of the images RVCA accepts from their artists and screens onto its clothing are usually of high caliber. Impressively, RVCA donates small proceeds from their ANP T-shirt sales to a charity of the artist’s choice. Amazingly, the company even puts on shows at heavy-cachet venues for their artists–whether or not doing so actually pencils with the accounting department. RVCA now has the ANP Quarterly, an arts magazine created and distributed by the company with a mission to “educate and inform openly and without the social or financial restrictions that plague many publications today and contribute more often than not to the ‘same old thing’ again and again” (or so says the ANP website). And like SurfShot, RVCA’s Quarterly, found in select galleries, record shops and clothing boutiques, is and will be 100% free…or as long as RVCA is able to bear the burden. Thus far they have achieved mixed results: As an example, issue #7 covered an idea that Vanity Fair later picked up (mad props). However, the same book also discussed moped repair (not exactly high art). We’ll see how long the free education lasts.
A-List BFF: Big wigs like Barry McGee and Jack Johnson…Skater Ed Templeton was the first artist to join the program.
Career Lowlight: The company used to distribute its ANP T-shirts in neatly wrapped and cleverly package plastic envelopes (I thought they were pretty cool). However, sales of the tiny pouches were slow…so the idea was discontinued.
Evidence of Aquatic Prowess: The Company’s co-founder, Conan Hayes, was not only a well-to-do pro on the ‘CT but is also still very involved in sourcing worldwide materials for RVCA’s clothing line.
California Roots: The OC.
Big Corpo Connection: PacSun and Nordstrom.
Comments
Sat, Jun 28 2008 | 09:34pm
RVCA SUcks. already sold out. you would have a sick artist network if you had the money to do it. I went to one of their events in hawaii and it was so lame, no real art either, live painting was mediocre, one guy reeally didnt know what he was doing.
Mon, Jan 05 2009 | 10:00pm
RVCA DOES suck. I designed a logo for a local record label company only to find my EXACT drawing a month later re-sketched a little bit and printed all over RVCA shirts; selling for top dollar at Nordstrom. I made several attempts to contact someone with RVCA to talk about it; all my messages were ignored. It wasn't until months later that a friend of mine interviewed with the company and called them out on design theft. Someone FINALLY wrote me back, but said they wouldn't admit they stole my drawing, as well as told me he liked my style and asked if they could use my work in the future. Pfft. Of course no one ever contacted me again to discuss me designing for them. Apparently RVCA artists have been known to rip off Roxy and Harley Davidson designs as well, landing them in some pretty hot lawsuits. Most of their artists need to get creative minds of their own.
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