CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF MONTBLANC CUTTING EDGE ART COLLECTION

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Thu, 2012-10-04 11:34

Montblanc,TargetOrange2010byEva&Adele,Hamburg,TomSachs,MontblancCulturalFoundati

The engagement with the arts and artists has been embedded in Montblanc’s corporate philosophy for a long time. In regard to this, Montblanc began to build a contemporary art collection ten years ago. The works from the collection are displayed in the entire cooperation’s facilities: offices, hallways, the production department and, of course, in the newly designed foyer at the headquarters in Hamburg. Regular tours are offered and guided by artists and art historians for the employees, which is keeping the art on display alive. In 1998, Montblanc started negotiations with artists and galleries and in 2002 Montblanc presented the first work by US artist Tom Sachs. Sachs considered it as a challenge to interpret the Montblac star, the emblem of the long-established company, and create the first commissioned work. And this is the starting point of a series of great collaborations concentrating in Art.

Since then, the collection expanded to 160 unique artworks including works by Thomas Demand, Liam Gillick, Jonathan Meese, Sylvie Fleury, Jorge Pardo, Ugo Rondinone, Michel Majerus, Lijun Fang. Many of the artists were considered as Cutting Edge at the time they were commissioned – in other words, just at the edge of becoming well known. On occasion of the 10th anniversary of the collection, the Montblanc Cultural Foundation presents the newest commission for the collection: MONTBLANC TARGET ORANGE, 2010, by EVA & ADELE will be presented in the newly designed foyer of the Montblanc Headquarters in Hamburg on the 31st of January 2012.

Eva & Adele at 10 years of Montblanc Cutting Edge Art Collection Vernissage

EVA & ADELE have been working together as a duo since 1991 and incorporate as a living sculpture not only the fusion of two individuals but also the opening of public and private life as well as art and life. The duo that seeks to be perceived as a coherent artwork develops artworks like paintings, videos and photography next to their public performances, which they address as “Where we are is museum”.

Art Collector Horst Schmitter, Director of Montblanc Cultural Foundation, Ingrid Roosen Trinks and Michael Rosenblat.

The basis of the Target Series, which includes the artwork for Montblanc, is a complex merge of drawings on paper. MONTBLANC TARGET ORANGE comprises 31 single drawings made with coloured pencils, Montblanc ink and pen and real pinfeather. Another coating is layered by unregularly spread varnish strips. All strips merge in the center of the image – in the so called FUTURING, this allows the association with a Star or a target. On top, the outline of the artist duo’s heads is placed which – due to its recognition value – almost functions as a logo. In another step of the process, the combined drawings that lie beneath are reconstructed with oil paint directly from the tube - a step in which a concealing while equally disclosing moment is resting. The web of lines creates a very own sculptural image plane together with the Montblanc star. The star lies over thetarget construction as the last layer and functions in the structure as a further logo. EVA & ADELE have been using Montblanc ink and pens for many years; this is why MONTBLANC TARGET ORANGE is not only a consequent continuation of the working methods of the artists but also a dedication to the tools and materials created by the penciling hand.

Beyer Alvar, Germany, Montblanc, 2008

Jinshi Zhu, China Zeitstempel, 2005.

During the growth of the collection, six unique objects were created in 2002: on the occasion of the opening of the Montblanc Flagship Boutique on the Champs Elysées in Paris, Jean-Marc Bustamante, Sylvie Fleury, Gary Hume, David LaChapelle, Sam Taylor-Wood and Anne et Patrick Poirier each created a three meter high shopping bag sculpture made of aluminum and each imprinted with a design created by the artists. These MONTBLANC ART travel around the world and have already been presented at art events, in front of Montblanc Flagship Boutiques and in remarkable surroundings - The Rockefeller Center in New York, on Martin Place in Sidney, at the Waterfront in Cape Town or on Bond Street in London. Creating unforgettable works of art and presenting art to the public in an unusual way is a challenge for both the artists and for Montblanc. The MONTBLANC ART BAG project was continued with a seventh sculpture by Marcel van Eeden in 2011. On time for the tenth anniversary of the CUTTING EDGE ART COLLECTION, Montblanc is presenting three new MONTBLANC ART BAGS, created by the internationally renowned Chinese artists Zou Cao, Ma Jun and Huang Min. These will soon be displayed in Peking outside the newest and biggest Montblanc Flagship Boutique worldwide.