Cross intersections and collaborations between the art world and various industries, has been in demand as of late. From fashion collaborations with contemporary artist (Dior x Kaws or Hank Willis Thomas x Helmut Lang), food and beverage (LIFEWTR and their many artist collaborations) homeware, the automobile industry and now currency and commerce. American Express just unvieled two new Platinum Card designs by world renowned artists, Julie Mehretu and Kehinde Wiley. Each artists used the Platinum cards as canvases, bringing their aesthetic voices to American Express. Platinum Card Members can choose from two Art x Platinum designs (or the classic Platinum design) beginning January 20, 2022. A credit card that doubles as a canvas—sign us up!
Kehinde Wiley—one of the key figures in the contemporary art market—is known for his Photorealist style, painting Black subjects in the style of Old masters, with his signature floral/naturalist background. He carried that theme over to the design of the Art x Platinum card, with a vignette of botanicals and florals. “This was an exciting project and powerful experience for me to translate my artistic approach into one of the reimagined designs for the Platinum Card,” Kehinde said via a press release shared with GRAZIA. The other prestigious artist asked to interpret her design style into the card design is Julie Mehretu. Mehretu has been taking the art world by storm with her large-scale, gestural paintings, drawings of re-imagined atmospheres, architectural renderings and aerial views of urban grids, making a case for Black abstractionism. Her card is just as representative of her work as Wiley’s is, with her signature abstract brush strokes engulfing the cards’ surface. “Art is all around us and I am delighted that a part of my work can now be found on the smallest of canvases in Platinum Card Members’ wallets” says Mehretu.
With this collaboration, American Express is making the case for the intersection of art and currency—two industries that rely heavily on each other. Art can be purchased but needs investors to sustain art institutions, and that’s what American Express is committed to. Early in their careers both Mehretu and Wiley participated in The Studio Museum in Harlem’s prestigious Artist-in-Residence program, and American Express recently committed $1 million in sponsorship of the museum’s work as one of the most important incubators of artistic genius today. Aside from Wiley and Mehretu, The Studio Museum in Harlem’s Artist-in-Residence program has birthed some of the most prolific contemporary artist of our time; from David Hammons, Titus Kaphar, and Simone Leigh to Mickalene Thomas and Jordan Casteel—and American Express is dedicated to the arts and arts outreach.
U.S. Consumer Platinum Card Members will be able to order one of the two new Art x Platinum designs beginning January 20, 2022. For more information visit here.
