360 Celsius

FILLING IN THE BLANKS

DISTILLING CREATIVITY TO FUEL A GLOBAL CREATIVE MOVEMENT 

In collaboration with a new generation of artists, ABSOLUT VODKA recently introduced ABSOLUT BLANK, a global creative movement, in which ABSOLUT appears as a catalyst for contemporary leading-edge creativity.

ABSOLUT now announces the ABSOLUT VODKA BLANK EDITION, designed by German artist Mario Wagner. The limited edition bottle features Wagner’s unique graphic expression, and draws strongly from the artwork he did for the ABSOLUT BLANK initiative a few months ago.

“Being one out of 20 artists to participate in the ABSOLUT BLANK creative movement was very inspiring. ABSOLUT gave us great artistic freedom, and I loved meeting artists from other countries and different creative disciplines. Therefore I was thrilled when I got the opportunity to extend my collaboration with ABSOLUT by creating my own bottle,” says Mario Wagner.

“The bottle design is very personal to me, as it expresses my fascination with space and time travel. I’ve had a lifelong desire to travel to the moon.”

Wagner’s bottle is inspired by the visual language of the 1960s, an era in which the space race and travelling to the moon captivated the world. To ensure continuity, he used some of the visual elements that were also in his artwork for the ABSOLUT BLANK campaign.

“Each visual element is there for a reason,” Wagner explains. “The astronaut is a recurring character in my work, and it creates intrigue to the overall piece. With an empty speech bubble I give a voice to the astronaut, but I let the audience decide what he says. There are also planets, spaceships and the all-seeing eye, which represents a person looking at the world from another dimension or place in time”.

“Mario Wagner has created a captivating and imaginary piece of art, and a bottle that will stand out on the shelf. Creating a unique bottle was not part of the initial plan, but we love it when our collaborations evolve into something new. This project beautifully shows how creativity leads our brand forward,” says CK Tan, Managing Director, Pernod Ricard Malaysia.
ABSOLUT BLANK is an ABSOLUT collaboration where 20 artists were given a literal ABSOLUT blank bottle shaped canvas, and asked to fill it in with their creativity. Mario Wagner was one of the artists featured in this campaign. His work has been showcased in print, outdoor advertising and TV.

ABSOLUT has always challenged conventions through creative collaborations with artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, and more recently Ellen von Unwerth and Spike Jonze. ABSOLUT BLANK is a daring new chapter for ABSOLUT.

“In ABSOLUT BLANK, ABSOLUT has boldly made its iconic bottle into a blank canvas to inspire artists throughout the world to collaborate and fill it with creativity. We brought together creative collaborators from a variety of disciplines and watched the journey from pure white canvas to exceptional pieces of art. The result depicts how artists and creativity are inspired through ABSOLUT,” says Terence Ong, Sales and Marketing Director for Pernod Ricard Malaysia.

The 20 artists participating in ABSOLUT BLANK represent a variety of creative disciplines from across the globe; from drawing, painting and sculpting to film making and digital art. Among the artworks are UVA’s high intensity, bright and striking light installations, Mario Wagner’s attention-grabbing cut-out imagery, the colourful and playful graphic design of Aesthetic Apparatus, the bold illustrations of Kinsey and the detailed work of Good Wives and Warriors.

“With ABSOLUT BLANK, we want to contribute to a global creative movement, ultimately, making the world even more vibrant and exceptional. “It All Starts With an ABSOLUT BLANK,”” Mark Hamilton continues.

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