Critique written by Yeppoon Art Dealer Frank Mackenzie-Hunt

I am usually comfortable with most forms of art but Anthony White’s Moon Franchise Agreement makes me feel uncomfortable even within modern definitions of art.  Andy Warhol challenged our mass produced consumer ideals by painting Coke bottles and Campbell’s soup cans but White is the first artist to challenge society’s mass produced businesses by making his own franchise agreements into works of art.  The fact that the franchise agreements are for exclusive sales territory on the moon demonstrates the extremes that mass produced business franchises have gone to and which we, the public, now accept.  Just like the impersonal experiences we receive when dealing with franchises, White also makes his franchises impersonal as the agreement is only made to “the owner” of the agreement.  I am confronted with the unwelcome reality that he produces artwork not just for visual pleasure but also for financial gain.  It reminds me of an early exhibit of Anthony White’s artwork which was sponsored by Brisbane BMW where he wrote, “For art to be truly beautiful, there must be an element of investment as well.”  This touches the deeper reality of our contemporary lives.  Exploitation pervades our modern lives; sometimes it is unwitting, sometimes deliberate.  

The Caption Says

I hereby give the owner of this agreement the exclusive right to sell all official Anthony White Artwork between __ latitude and __ longitude on the Earth's Moon's surface.

Anthony White agrees to supply the owner of this agreement with his artwork at wholesale prices in order that the owner of this contract be able to conduct the business of reselling Anthony's artwork in the aforementioned exclusive territory on the Moon.

This agreement is transferable, but cannot be sold for less than the price that the current owner has paid for it.