After a one year hiatus, the Davidoff Art Edition will be making a return. Today Davidoff announced the Davidoff Art Edition 2016, the second installment of the project launched in 2014. The Art Edition 2016 will feature unique digital art by artist Olivia McGilchrist. While details of the cigar are still pending, the company announced the digital artwork will debut at the Moving Image Art Fair in New York City beginning March 6th. Plans are for the cigar to reach stores in June.
The Davidoff Art Initiative that was announced in December 2013 at the Art Basel festival in Miami Beach, Florida. As a part of this initiative, Davidoff established an art residency to help emerging artists (including one in the Dominican Republic); provided art grants (which were awarded to two Dominican institutions); and produced the first Davidoff Art Edition cigar. That cigar project, the Davidoff Art Edition 2014 provided an opportunity for artists to create artwork for the packaging and banding of cigars. In addition a portion of the sales for this cigar helps fund the Davidoff Art Initiative. Dominican artist Quisqueya Henriquez was chosen to produce the artwork for that first release.
By trade McGilchrist is a Jamaican-French artist and videographer. Her work has a Carribbean centered theme using digital multi-media techniques. Now McGilchrist’s work will be featured on the second Davidoff Art Edition. The theme is called “From Many Sides” and features digital art that incorporates landscapes, culture, stories, and people from the Caribbean.
By trade McGilchrist is a Jamaican-French artist and videographer. She was born in Jamaica and moved to Europe when she was three. Her work has a Caribbean centered theme using digital multi-media techniques. The Limited Art Edition 2016 will incorporate digital video art and custom-made cigars designed specifically for the project. A total run of 7,000 boxes will be produced.
In addition, there will a limited run of Collectors Edition releases. Each will include one of sixteen numbered editions of the commissioned video, a unique still image from the video, and a signed certificate by McGilchrist.
“My recent creative practice is deeply inspired by a longing to reconnect with my birth land as well as the cultural space of the Caribbean,” commented McGilchrist in a press release. “My education abroad awarded me the opportunity to learn new media technology platforms but I also had access to local art hubs and traditional artistic practices when I returned home to Jamaica. Because of the duality on my experiences, I aspire to create artwork that overturns biographical or social expectations through a Caribbean-centered, multi-media arts practice.”
“Davidoff is continuously looking for new ways to engage with and support contemporary art. The Limited Art Edition supports the DAI’s mission of familiarizing the international audience with artists from the Caribbean and it helps fund the Davidoff Art Initiative at the same time,” commented Oettinger Davidoff AG CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard. “Olivia’s video work is a fascinating visual blend of regionally specific elements. Because crafting and blending are the same values at the heart of everything we do, we feel that Davidoff is perfectly matched with this extraordinary artist.”
Following the Moving Image Art Fair in New York, the art work will be previewed at Art Basel in Hong Kong on March 24-26. In June, the Davidoff Art Edition 2016 and the associated Collectors Edition releases will be unveiled at Art Basel in Switzerland. June will also be the timeframe the new Art Edition 2016 will be shipped.
As in the past, a percentage of the proceeds from all special art editions will be dedicated to sustaining the Davidoff Art Initiative.
Image Credits: Oliva McGilchrist and Davidoff Art Initiative
