SKYY Spirits News

Visual artists Nathan Mabry and Valerie Hegarty awarded grants for 2007; Mabry work to be donated to the Hammer Museum

LOS ANGELES (August 21, 2007) – Campari, the one-of-a-kind spirit, announced today the 2007 Campari Commissions Initiative, a program created to further Campari’s support of exceptional emerging artists. The House of Campari contemporary art program, now in its third season, has recently expanded to include this commissioning initiative, in which two emerging artists will receive commissioning grants to create new works.

The goals of the Campari Commissions are to provide financial support for artists to create significant new works of art, provide exhibition opportunities for showing the work and then to donate the artworks to appropriate museum collections. Each year Campari will award a commissioning grant to one Los Angeles artist and one New York artist featured in the previous year’s House of Campari group exhibitions. The commission grants are awarded to artists based on artistic excellence and the timeliness of the proposed artworks. These selected artists are awarded a grant to support their art-making and for the production of the commission works. The commissioned artworks will be shown with House of Campari exhibitions in their respective cities.

The 2007 Campari Commission for Los Angeles has been awarded to House of Campari Los Angeles 2006 alum Nathan Mabry. For the commission, Mabry has created Mosaic Mask (XXX), colored pencil on Mylar with Swarovski crystals. The work, part of a series of colored pencil drawings of Miztec mosaic masks, to which Mabry adds a modern twist by encrusting the mask’s teeth with Swarovski crystals, was on public display at House of Campari May 19 through June 10, 2007 in West Hollywood. Mabry’s “Mosaic Mask (XXX)” will be donated to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles at the end of the 2007 House of Campari contemporary art program season.

“We are delighted to receive this generous donation from the 2007 Campari Commission for Los Angeles,” said Ann Philbin, Director of the Hammer Museum. “Nathan Mabry is an artist that our curators have worked with and whose sculptures have been shown at the Hammer. We are thrilled to add this wonderful example of his work to our Hammer Contemporary Collection.”

The 2007 Campari Commission for New York has just been awarded to New York-based artist Valerie Hegarty. Hegarty was featured in House of Campari’s 2006 group show in New York City. Hegarty is currently developing her work for the commission. It will be on view at House of Campari New York in September 2007.

“The Campari Commissions are a significant development in Campari’s contemporary arts program, designed to support the passionate vision of this generation’s emerging artists,” said Lynn Lackey, Brand Manager for Campari. “Through this program, House of Campari provides direct support to emerging artists and builds on Campari’s working relationships with these remarkable artists.”

Nathan Mabry and Valerie Hegarty are critically acclaimed emerging artists who in the past year have hit the art world’s international spotlight. Each has a unique voice and a distinctive vision of the world. Their art-making invites, delights, provokes and informs broad audiences. Campari is delighted to inaugurate its commissioning program with Valerie Hegarty and Nathan Mabry.

More on Nathan Mabry
Nathan Mabry’s colored pencil on Mylar drawings artfully move between high and low culture and between what belongs in the museum and what might be seen on the street. Blurring the lines between art history and archeology, Mabry closely examines Miztec mosaic masks and skulls in museum collections and renders them in colored pencil on Mylar. Mabry’s expert craftsmanship mirrors the care taken in making the original Miztec pieces. The results are both successful conceptual appropriation and humor-where the teeth of the Miztec masks and skulls would be, Mabry inserts his own “grills” using Swarovski crystal rhinestones to lay out images of lightning bolts, hearts and rainbows. In these pieces, Mabry analogizes the present to the past through the fetishation of power and its objects. Where the teeth in the Miztec mask suggest awesome power, Mabry’s drawings are a statement on “moving on up” in consumer culture where consumer power serves as its own end.

Nathan Mabry lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He earned his B.F.A. in 2001 at the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO, and his M.F.A. at UCLA. Mabry’s work was recently a part of the exhibition, Red Eye: Los Angeles Artists from the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, FL. In 2006, he had solo exhibitions at the Aspen Art Museum and Cherry and Martin. In 2005, Mabry’s work was included in Thing: New Sculpture from Los Angeles at the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA); Rogue Wave ‘05 at LA Louver (Venice, CA) 25 Bold Moves/House of Campari, LA and Cornceptual Popstraction at cherrydelosreyes, (Los Angeles, CA). Mabry is represented by Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles.

More on Valerie Hegarty
Valerie Hegarty builds lovingly assembled, trompe l’oeil environments from paper, paste and paint using a method she refers to as “reverse archeology.” Hegarty explores the possibility of fabricating and altering objects with historical reference in order to highlight the past’s relation to the current American socio-political arena. Upcoming projects include a two-person exhibition at the Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY and a solo exhibition at CTRL gallery in Houston, TX.

Hegarty received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives and works in NY and is represented by Guild & Greyshkul. Hegarty has had solo exhibitions at Guild & Greyshkul, NY, Museum 52, London, England, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Her numerous group shows include P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center/MoMA, Queens, NY; White Columns, NY; The Drawing Center, NY; The Bronx Museum of Art, NY, 25 Bold Moves/House of Campari, NY.

Campari’s Visual Arts Programs
The Commissions Program is coordinated by Campari’s art consultants, Craig Hensala and Simon Watson of Scenic.

The Commissions initiative joins Campari’s other visual arts programs including the landmark House of Campari program, with emerging, visual arts exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles and partnerships with leading arts organizations Artists Space in New York, LA><Art in Los Angeles and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

House of Campari is a cultural destination highlighting and supporting the work of emerging visual artists in a variety of media including: painting, photography, sculpture and drawing. The title exhibition “Distinctive Messengers”, curated for Campari by Scenic, features a selection of provocative emerging visual artists from some of the most visionary galleries offering fresh creative expression. As in years previous, each participating artist will have had their first solo exhibition in the past season or will have it in the upcoming season.

For more information about Campari’s visual arts programs, please visit www.CampariUSA.com.

About Campari
Bold, passionate and completely unique, Campari makes a dry and refreshing cocktail that can be enjoyed anytime. Hand-crafted according to the same secret family recipe invented in Italy in 1860, Campari is a unique blend of herbs and spices with orange as the predominant flavor. Campari’s patronage of the arts reflects the modern spirit of the brand as stylish, distinctive and creative.

About Skyy Spirits, LLC
Skyy Spirits, LLC is the US-based wholly owned subsidiary of Gruppo Campari (Milan: CPR.MI) and the definitive marketer and distributor of super-premium and luxury spirits brands in North America. Launched in 1992 with the introduction of its flagship brand, SKYY® Vodka, Skyy Spirits has grown exponentially, building a portfolio unrivaled in its quality, innovation and style, making it a top choice among distributors, retailers and consumers. Skyy Spirits manages Gruppo Campari’s portfolio in the US of such leading brands as SKYY® Vodka, SKYY90®, SKYY InfusionsTM, Campari®, Cabo Wabo® Tequila, Ouzo 12®, X-Rated® Fusion Liqueur® and Jean-Marc XO Vodka®. Skyy Spirits is also the exclusive US distributor of Cutty Sark® Scotch Whisky, The Glenrothes® Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Bowmore® Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Auchentoshan® Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Glen Garioch® Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Flor de Caña® Rum, Carolans Irish Cream®, Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey®, Irish Mist® Liqueur, Midori® Melon Liqueur, ZEN Green Tea Liqueur TM and The Yamazaki® Single Malt Whisky.

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