Nov. 10, 2008 – Absolut Vodka has enlisted the talent of 11 artists in Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. Virgin Islands to create one work of art entitled Absolut Connections. The unveiling will be held from 6-9 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 14, at Mango Tango Seaside Art Gallery at Yacht Haven Grande. The artist representing the V.I. is W.B. Thompson. Premier Wines & Spirits will host of the festivities, providing contemporary DJ music and hors d'oeuvres.
Absolut Vodka has been working with fine artists since 1985 when Andy Warhol was asked to create the bottle from his perspective. Later Keith Haring added his signature style to an Absolut art project. And the tradition has continued. The current assemblage is a creation of the following artists: Lorena Urcola of Argentina, Eustace Mcphee of the Bahamas, Ann Dodson of Barbados, Javiera Torres of Chile, Mónica Londoño of Colombia, Mario Dávalos of the Dominican Republic, Paul Jáuregui of Ecuador, Kenji Nakam of Perú, Nicole Craig of Trinidad and Tobago, W.B. Thompson of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Javier León of Venezuela.
The concept of the current project is most closely aligned with a Surrealist notion of different people jotting down a word on a piece of paper and later putting the individual words together to make poetry. Visual artists such as Yves Tanguy and Joan Miro would take this idea to create drawings. Each artist would draw something and then fold the drawing where his work could not be seen and the next artist would add another drawing, also folded so the next collaborator could not see it. In the end the finished work would be revealed.
A flattened shape of an Absolut bottle, almost 10 feet in height was dissected into 11 pieces, and each artist received one blank piece to create a work of art. The artist was told where the piece would be positioned in the bottle, but none of the artists knew what the others were doing. When the bottle is unveiled at the opening, W. B. Thompson's work will be easy to spot.
In describing his method, he said, "My section of the bottle presents a figure sitting by the ocean looking out at an island. I purposely kept the image uncomplicated. Taking a less is more approach. I worked predominately with black and white. I imagined the black and white as symbolic of mystery and purity. The crosshatched colored lines develop a sense of contour. Hopefully, I was able to convey in an appropriate and simplified way the beauty and tranquility of the Virgin Islands. My departure from using bold colors is a personal response to the collaborative project."
In addition to the Absolut Connections installation, W. B. Thompson will also have recent work on view and for sale. He has just returned from a successful exhibit in San Antonio, Texas.
For more information, call 715-2789.
