SIDEPIECE and the Art of Working Without a Brief
Scott Welch has spent the better part of fifteen years producing other people’s ideas in advertising. In Los Angeles, he built a room where ad people show the work nobody asked them to make.
Scott Welch is quick to tell you he isn’t a creative. He’s a producer, the person in advertising who turns someone else’s idea into finished work, and whose opinion on the creative is, in his words, “at best kindly received.” So it was an exciting surprise to stand in his studio in Mid-City Los Angeles this May, surrounded by canvases where every decision was his, right down to what the characters are wearing.
I’ve known Scott for about fifteen years. We met in New York’s marketing community and have spent most of that time trading ideas about brand, content and video production. He came to Frontrunner’s gallery shows in Tribeca when we were running them, and he understood what we were after: a room where emerging artists and creative entrepreneurs could find each other. SIDEPIECE is his version of that space, built for a specific crowd. Ad people who paint on the side, making work with no client, no brief and no one to sign off.
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The first showcase, in Los Angeles this past May, drew more than 200 people. The second opens in mid-October with a cohort now close to twenty artists. It arrives while advertising is arguing with itself about AI and what creative work is still worth. Scott doesn’t pretend to know where that argument ends. The question I kept coming back to in his studio was simpler: what happens to creativity when you remove the brief? His answer is less about escape than about attention.
This interview has been edited for length.
You decided this space needed to exist. What was the moment you knew that, and what was missing before it did?
I was seeing a lot of people in the Ad world that are also painters who did not have an easy way to showcase their work so I began to reach out to people explaining the initial idea for SIDEPIECE – an art-for-arts-sake showcase. The name is a literal take on the word, but also maybe a little bit sassy. We are hobbyists making pieces of art on the side.
When you describe SIDEPIECE as “art for art’s sake,” what are you protecting against? What’s the opposite of that?
We all work at selling ideas and fantasies in our day jobs, what if we could also spend some of our own time being a little less commercial? What if we talk about the art and its reason for being versus its role in trying to sell something. Don’t get me wrong, we love our day jobs and also the SIDEPIECE work is for sale, but we are encouraging real conversations and an understanding of the art and the artist. So you are not just buying a commodity.
Your day job is producing other people’s creative visions. What does it feel like to be on the other side of that, making something entirely your own?
It’s been interesting being on the other side. I mean I am REALLY on the other side. Even in my day job I am a producer not a creative. As much as the team might ask for and appreciate my professional opinion in situations that require a creative decision, mine is far from the final say. Going from an environment where my creative opinions are at best kindly received – to my own art practice where I initiate and execute all creative and production, has proven very fulfilling.
When you’re in the studio, do you ever catch yourself thinking like a producer, trying to solve the painting, manage the process? What does it take to turn that off?
I sometimes just put my chair at a good distance from the work and sit and look for an hour. Just turn everything off and look and listen to the work. It’s not a lie! It’s important to see and feel the work. This is one of the greatest motivators. It’s sometimes been the case that the only thing accomplished in a multi-hour session will be looking at the work. But it’s not a waste, it can be worth the time because you gain an understanding and an agreement with the work on how to proceed. But even painters and other artists have deadlines and responsibilities. So it is helpful to me to try to set deadlines for the work, even if they are loose ones. By so and so date, certain elements of the work need to be completed and so on. So it’s a balance of flow and accomplishment.
Your work feels figurative and confrontational in scale. These are faces, close up, with real presence. What draws you to the human face as a subject?
They are faces, yes, but by design they are not meant to be faces of anyone that you know. They are meant to be recognizable in their expressions and actions, but not in their individual characteristics. Like any good action spy protagonist, they should be acknowledged as non-threatening and then immediately forgotten; left to move on their way to engage in whichever espionage activity might be on the agenda that day. Sort of back-pocket mayhem or subterfuge. The paintings are a soft confrontation that could well lead to much deeper thought down the road.
You built this as a community, not just a show. What’s the difference, and why does that distinction matter to you?
It’s everything, the community is everything. We could have had a show with any artists, but the whole ethos of SIDEPIECE is to bring together the people that likely work together as colleagues – into an environment where everyone is new, everyone is equal and there is no striation of roles etc. We are all painters. And that is a special thing. Think about what it means to take that new relationship back to the workplace. It’s something special, indeed. Again, SIDEPIECE is a community (artists) within a community (Advertising). Also important to note that SIDEPIECE is 100% a group effort. From the planning to the execution to the party vibe, everyone on the team brings something unique.
You’ve spent your career making space for other people’s creativity. What took you so long to claim your own?
Some things take time. Sidestepping for a personal opinion – I feel that art journalism (podcasts, video profiles, and written articles) – is missing a key group. The emerging artist that found their practice mid or even late in their “professional” career. Often after they have been working for many years in other fields. I speak with hobbyist artists all the time. They are people with a lot to say and the fact that they have had other careers can only make them more interesting. They’ve seen the world from a non “artist” point of view and now they’re synthesizing that information and the art is coming out. And the art can be a little different and that’s ok. It’s outsider art at its core.
What’s next for SIDEPIECE? You mentioned more and even different shows?
Yes, the show in May was wonderful because it truly was a proof of concept. Over 200 people came out to see the work of their friends and colleagues. I think that says something. So, we will be having another painting showcase in mid October. Many of the original artists from the show in May, plus a few new artists as well, all showing previously unseen works. The artist cohort is up to nearly twenty people now and will continue to grow because the concept is important.
And, in the winter or spring of 2027, we have been talking about a music showcase. We know quite well that there are at least as many hobbyist musicians as painters or any other artistic medium in the Ad world. So let’s bring Ad musicians together and make something magical. Not a cover band, but original compositions by incredibly creative individuals. If we are meant to be the tip of the spear for cultural relevance, the last thing that we want to do is throw a bunch of cover songs at people. It’s a big idea, that we are happy to be speaking into existence. “You are who you say you are” and SIDEPIECE basically rhymes with Rock Opera right? And then there is drawing and photography and sculpture and film. The mediums are endless and the artists are ready. Thank you and stay well tuned.
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