HENNESSY X ZHANG ENLI

FEATURE STORY
ARTIST
COLLABORATION
DESIGN
STORIES

FEATURE STORY

HENNESSY X ZHANG ENLI

The Maison Hennessy ushers in the festive season around Chinese New Year with a dreamlike work of art by one of China’s most important contemporary artists, Zhang Enli.

ARTIST

Inspired by the surroundings

Zhang Enli’s lyrical works are often inspired by seemingly ordinary objects, which can range from cardboard boxes to pieces of string, or aspects of everyday life, such as urban structures or landscape features.

Creation rooted in tradition

"I drew on the essence of traditional Chinese ink painting, which is the means our ancestors used to dialogue with the world, keeping the spirit and translating it into my own artistic language."

Echoing the love of nature

Zhang Enli's distinctive style - fluid, spontaneous and gestural - draws on both Eastern and Western painterly traditions, reflecting his love of nature. "What moved me most about Hennessy is that it comes from nature."

COLLABORATION

HENNESSY X ZHANG ENLI

'Poetry and Wine Welcome The Tiger'

Zhang Enli created a vibrant artwork – 'Poetry and Wine Welcome The Tiger' – to celebrate the poetry, optimism, and vitality of the Chinese New Year. Coming after a time of challenge and loss, the Tiger represents hope and augurs renewed energy and vitality.
Following a visit to Hennessy’s historic seat in Cognac, Zhang Enli transposed his impressions into a fluid, dreamlike composition in which sprays of water droplets surge up and reconverge into a tiger prowling in the night. A yellow and gold palette channels empowerment and refinement, with crystalline amber tones recalling the depth of Hennessy’s blends, and touches of red call to mind the festive atmosphere of Chinese New Year.

After the artist visited Cognac he was moved by the Maison's constant quest for perfection within a traditional, artisanal framework as well as the brand's profound connection with nature.
"This painting is different from traditional tiger-themed paintings; it’s through the colours and the dark stripes that one imagines a tiger, it’s the “spirit of a tiger” rather than a figurative form. The painting very naturally brings together the Year of the Tiger and Hennessy’s eaux-de-vie. I hope that in each section the public will be able to sense that eaux-de-vie and the shape of the tiger are transformed even in the tiniest details."