Ruinart’s art collective exhibits at Frieze London

Maison Ruinart has revealed the latest iteration of its art concept Carte Blanche with some of the artworks to feature at the company’s bar at Frieze London this October.

The works of Marcus Coates and Henrique Oliveira will appear at the London art show under the ‘Conversations with Nature’ theme. Ruinart developed the nature concept this year to highlight Champagne as “above all a natural product from the vine: emerging from the earth, imbued with water and light”, it said.

The producer chose artists with “strong convictions” into “conversation with the living world” as it wanted to send out “an ambitious signal at moment when climate upheaval puts so much at stake”.

Unveiled through art fairs around the world this year, the artworks will be finally brought together in a permanent display in a garden at Ruinart’s historic site in Reims.

Drawn from five continents, the artists invited this year “embody both contemporary art and different ways environmental issues are perceived around the world”, the producer said.

Frédéric Dufour, the president of Maison Ruinart, said: “As the oldest Champagne house, Ruinart has cultivated an intimate bond with the land and nature for almost 30 years. We have a responsibility to better understand and preserve it.

“Our cuvées are the fruit of this relationship. Artists are the best ambassadors to promote the preservation of nature, which is essential for Maison Ruinart. They are at the cutting edge of society and have a powerful language capable of engaging our different audiences.”

Coates’ artwork at Frieze, called Nature Calendar, includes different media, such as painting, photography, sculpture and sound installation. He has designed an ephemeral calendar to mark the daily events taking place in nature at Maison Ruinart’s historic Taissy vineyard, from plants flowering to birds migrating and insect lifecycles. In the form of flags, one of which is hoisted every day, the calendar celebrates invisible news from our ecosystem with a short phrase. As a tribute to the non-human and “more than human” world of flora and fauna, his project “echoes and builds upon Ruinart’s commitment to biodiversity”.

He said: “Talking to nature is god, but listening is better. A lot of my work is a conversation with nature, not necessarily talking with, but more noticing, listening and watching, to try to understand and become aware of the needs and perspectives of other species.”

Henrique Oliveira’s project consists of a freestanding real tree size sculpture made from recycled plywood and papier-mâché reinforced by an internal metal structure – standing in the Court d’Honneur of Maison Ruinart’s historic headquarters in Reims. The construction highlights the importance of recycling. While its form evokes branches intertwined like a labyrinth of roots, echoing the underground network of chalk pits in which Ruinart ages its champagne.

Impressed by this underground network, Oliveira “reminds us of the history of the Champagne landscape, composed largely of chalk sedimented millions of years ago”.

Oliveira said: “The intense craftwork involved in my branch sculptures mirrors the effort we must make to get back the same nature that was once taken for granted.”

Artworks from the selected six Carte Blanche artists paying tribute to the Maison’s legacy have been split up and allocated for display at art fairs around the world throughout the year including Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

Marcus Coates and Henrique Oliveira’s work will be at the Ruinart bar at Frieze London from 9–13 October 2024, where R de Ruinart, Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, Ruinart Rosé, Ruinart Blanc Singulier Edition 19 with Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs 2010 will be available to drink.

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