“Art Is for Everybody”: Absolut Honors Keith Haring in Celebration of Creativity For All

The Absolut Group is a powerhouse of lifestyle spirits brands within Pernod Ricard. The portfolio includes an extensive range of premium spirits; the iconic Absolut Vodka, the world’s most awarded gin, Beefeater, the leading flavoured rum, Malibu and the number one coffee liqueur, Kahlúa. The range also includes a selection of agave spirits, including Altos tequila and craft gins such as Monkey 47 and KI NO BI. Across geographies, the entities forming The Absolut Group share a long-term commitment to sustainability and responsible drinking that extends to consumers, society, the environment and our teams. https://theabsolutgroup.com/

Pernod Ricard is a worldwide leader in the spirits and wine industry, blending traditional craftsmanship, state-of-the-art brand development, and global distribution technologies. Our prestigious portfolio of premium to luxury brands includes Absolut vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Malibu liqueur and Mumm and Perrier-Jouët champagnes.

Our mission is to ensure the long-term growth of our brands with full respect for people and the environment while empowering our employees around the world to be ambassadors of our purposeful, inclusive and responsible culture of authentic conviviality. Pernod Ricard’s consolidated sales amounted to € 11,598 million in fiscal year FY24. Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN Code: FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 and Eurostoxx 50 indices. https://www.pernod-ricard.com/en

Andy Warhol painted Absolut Warhol in 1985, which became the first Absolut Art advert and marked the beginning of Absolut’s involvement in the arts. Warhol subsequently recommended Keith Haring to interpret the Absolut bottle – between 1985 and 2004, more than 550 artists created more than 850 works of art. The Absolut Art Collection’s dedicated home is at Spritmuseum, Stockholm and includes paintings, graphic art, photography, furniture, fashion and handicrafts – all of which have been used in campaigns for Absolut Vodka. What unites the works of art in this collection is that every image or object portrays the iconic Absolut Vodka bottle. The pieces were created as part of a strategy to build and communicate a brand during an era associated with New York’s Studio 54 and glitter balls, the first victims of the AIDs epidemic, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the birth of IT. All the collection’s works of art create a nuanced portrait of three decades’ worth of cultural trends and developments.

Keith Haring (1958-1990) was preeminent among the young artists, performers, and musicians whose work responded to urban street culture of the 1980s. When he arrived in New York City at the age of 19 to enrol in the School of Visual Arts, Haring found an alternative world thriving outside the gallery and museum system, in the downtown streets, the subways, and clubs.

Inspired by graffiti artists whose marks covered the city’s subway cars, Haring began to draw in white chalk over the black paper used to cover vacant advertising panels. Not only was Haring able to reach a large and diverse audience with his subway drawings, but eventually the subway became, as Haring said, a “laboratory” for working out his ideas. There he developed the series of images that would become his signature: the radiant baby, the barking dog, and the running figure. As early as 1982, Haring began exhibiting in galleries and museums around the world but continued to participate in public projects, including literacy campaigns and anti-AIDS initiatives. Building on earlier impulses to draw on everything from refrigerator doors to vinyl tarpaulins, Haring continued to use a variety of media in order to communicate to a massive audience, essential themes such as birth, death, love and war.

Diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, Haring established the Keith Haring Foundation in 1989 to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations, and to ensure that his philanthropic legacy would continue indefinitely. The Keith Haring Foundation’s mission is to sustain, expand and protect the legacy of Haring’s art and his ideals. Keith Haring passed away in New York in February 1990 of AIDS. Since his death, he has been the subject of several international retrospectives, and his work is in major private and public collections. Although Haring’s career was brief, his work has become a universally recognized visual language. https://www.haring.com/

This project was done in collaboration with Artestar, a global licensing agency and creative consultancy representing the Keith Haring Studio and other world-renowned visual artists, estates, and foundations. Artestar conceptualizes and develops some of the world’s most iconic brand partnerships across an array of categories and geographic regions, all while preserving and elevating each artist’s unique legacy. Through strategic planning and thoughtful curation, Artestar powers creative collaborations to make art accessible to everyone. Learn more at https://www.artestar.com/