art and commerce

I've always thought the interesting thing about advertising and many of the creative industries is the enforced and everpresent tension between art and commerce. It's the combination of the two that makes life interesting. Jarvis Cocker talks about Art Schools on this radio 4 programme, and the little bit of history in there throws more light on that tension. It also points out one of the reasons why Britain might be unusually good at those industries - the provision of art schools occasioned by the industrial revolution.