Centuries-old Ruinart invites British artist David Shrigley to share his artistic interpretation of the Champagne house

The worlds of art and wine have always been closely intertwined – whether it’s about artists finding inspiration at the bottom of a bottle, bottles being the subject of a painting, or artwork on bottles. For Ruinart, the very first Champagne producer ever, this relationship goes beyond artwork on a label. Every year, it invites an international contemporary artist to live and breathe Champagne, and share his or her vision of the 291-year-old maison in an ensemble of artworks.

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For 2020, the enviable task fell to British artist David Shrigley, best known for his subversive wit and eyebrow-raising works such as Really Good, a brass sculpture of an elongated thumb installed on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. Flushed with some of France’s most esteemed bubbly, the 51-year-old Shrigley interpreted Ruinart’s artistry and processes through 42 artworks comprising sculptures and a series of 36 playful drawings and acrylics — collectively titled Unconventional Bubbles – executed in the artist’s signature irreverent style.

Here are some of our favourites.

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