ABSOLUT ART

"I love the packaging, I love the feeling of it… I want to do something…"

This was Andy Warhol's reaction when he was first asked what he thought of the ABSOLUT VODKA bottle. And so ABSOLUT began its involvement in the arts in 1985 with ABSOLUT WARHOL – the legendary artist's dramatic and colorful depiction of the well known bottle. Warhol helped to launch a new form of ABSOLUT expression: ABSOLUT ART.
Andy Warhol recommended his young protégé, Keith Haring. Haring had first been noticed in the early '80s, when his artwork appeared anonymously throughout the New York subway system. ABSOLUT HARING was commissioned in 1986 and works followed by Kenny Scharf, Ed Ruscha, Armand Arman, LeRoy Neiman, Robert Indiana, César, Julia Wachtel, Pierre & Gilles and other leading artists. To date, the collection of contemporary art includes the work of more than 400 artists. Many have been showcased as part of the ABSOLUT advertising campaign and the works of art are also exhibited in museums around the world.

V&S Absolut Spirits’ commitment to the arts has always been based on mutual inspiration. The creative nature of the brand has attracted some of the leading contemporary artists of our time to develop their own personal interpretations of ABSOLUT. Regardless of the artist, country or type of work, every piece reflects both the vision of the artist and the spirit of ABSOLUT. ABSOLUT has not worked only with painters but artists in all fields, including sculptors, crystal glass designers, photographers, furniture designers, architects and jewelry designers.
There are a number of separate collections included in ABSOLUT ART. Among them are:
ABSOLUT GLASNOST (1990) a collection of works by twenty-six Soviet artists, including Alexander Kosolapov, Leonid Lamm and Evegny Mitta. Many of the artists had never had their art exhibited outside what was then the Soviet Union.
ABSOLUT EXPRESSIONS (1997) featuring the works of fourteen African-American artists including Anita Philyaw, Frank Bowling and Malaika Favorite. Influences range from traditional African art, abstract imagery and early American folk art and are represented through such styles and mediums as works on canvas, sculptures and quilts. ABSOLUT ORIGINALS (1998-1999) is a collaboration between ABSOLUT and sixteen cutting-edge European artists. This special series features original works of exciting and respected artists such as Damien Hirst, Maurizio Cattelan and Francesco Clemente.

In 2000 three major ABSOLUT ART exhibitions were arranged; ABSOLUT EGO in Paris, ABSOLUT EXHIBITION in New York and ABSOLUT ART in Stockholm.
ABSOLUT was an official exhibitor with the ABSOLUT GENERATIONS exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2003. For the ABSOLUT GENERATIONS project, 13 of Europe’s leading artists were chosen from the ABSOLUT ART collection, to become “mentors” to sixteen emerging “protégés”. Each of these young artists created their personal interpretation of the ABSOLUT bottle. At the Biennale each pair, mentor and protégé, react to one another and interpret the theme generations.