Every year since 1945, the owners of the famous wine estate Château Mouton Rothschild have entrusted the creation of the label of their vintage wine to a renowned artist. Dalí (in 1960), Miró (1971), Chagall (1972), Picasso (1975), Warhol (1977), Niki de Saint Phalle (1999), Jeff Koons (2012) and Annette Messager last year, have succeeded one another in creating an original work and illustrating the label of the wine of the Bordeaux region's first classified growth. This year, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Camille Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild have called upon the Chinese artist and writer Xu Bing.
For the 2018 vintage, the artist has created a work that is only revealed to the attentive observer. It appears to be composed of two traditional Chinese characters, but in reality it is made with letters of the Latin alphabet: the two calligraphic drawings hide the words Mouton and Rothschild.
"The characters of Xu Bing are designed to reveal themselves to the attentive reader one by one, as the flavors of a great wine are gradually revealed" explained the owners in a press release.
Xu Bing, a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, exhibits in the most renowned institutions such as the British Museum in London, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Among his most famous works are the monumental sculptures and installations Book from the Sky, Phoenix and Background Stories.
"I drew the inspiration for the creation of this label from our daily reality, explains the artist. As the reader looks at this work, he realizes that his pre-existing knowledge ceases to function, and it is this same phenomenon that we find ourselves facing in today's world. We need to find a new approach, to rotate our point of view in order to understand what is going on in the world. This concept also applies perfectly to the heritage of Château Mouton Rothschild, which contains behind its name layers of a rich history just waiting to be discovered ."
