After its sought-after collaborations with Kaws, Futura and Os Gemeos, Hennessy has invited Shepard Fairey, arguably one of the most important and most popular American artists of the early 21st century, to design his own Hennessy Very Special Limited Edition.
The collaboration between Hennessy and Shepard Fairey had everything to do with their shared values: the never ending quest for excellence, the love of true craftsmanship, the cultivation of consistency, the passion for tradition and innovation… “There is a philosophical connection between the way I work and the way that Hennessy works as a brand,” said the artist about the many parallels that could be drawn between his art and Hennessy’s craft. To work on such a specific and iconic canvas as Hennessy Very Special, Shepard Fairey had the privilege to dive deeply into Hennessy’s visual history in Cognac.
Shepard Fairey’s tireless work ethic found its match in Hennessy, and the artist saw in the Maison a haven for like-minded craftsmen bearing striking similarities with his own creative process: “When I look at the history of Hennessy and how the best eaux-de-vies are saved for years and built upon, I see a connection to the way I work as an artist. I’ve developed, experimented, come up with techniques that I’ve then pushed and pushed and refined. The more different techniques I have at my disposal, the more each new piece of art I’m able to pull from all those techniques to achieve what I envision. A wide variety of eaux-de-vies have to be mixed to create the ideal Hennessy. It’s all very analogous.”
Taking the collaboration concept above and beyond, Hennessy invited Shepard Fairey to celebrate the release of his Limited Edition with a “Very Special World Tour”, already scheduled to hit ten of the world’s most influential cities including Los Angeles, New York City, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Berlin and more. In each city, Shepard Fairey will create a public mural with the objective to uplift local communities with thought- provoking visuals, and to perform exclusive DJ sets likely to be hailed as the DJ event of the season.
“My inspiration in coming up with art for this Limited Edition was really based on the legacy of Hennessy as a brand” says Shepard Fairey of his Hennessy Very Special Label design. “To me, Hennessy has always been about quality, authenticity, tradition and elegance.”
The “Star icon” mandala featured at the center of the bottle represents Shepard Fairey’s search for completeness and self-unity, with its signature Obey icon standing as a tribute to his own design heritage: “I’ve always wanted to progress but also always keep a visual connection to some of the elements from my historic work, so that people can see that it has all been a progression of an idea and a style.”
The color schemes used on the label enhance the direct parallel between his signature styling and Hennessy’s trademark aesthetics: “The great thing is that a lot of the colors and the elements that I like to use in my work have been used at Hennessy: gold, black, cream, red.”
Lifting key features from historic Hennessy designs as well as his own designs, the Very Special Limited Edition by Shepard Fairey represents the artist’s unique interpretation of the perfect balance between tradition and innovation: “It was amazing for me to see how I could translate my art to the bottle, hopefully retaining the essence of what is beautiful and powerful about it, while bringing my own spirit to it as well.”
