ABSOLUT Just Launched An Artist Edition With KAWS

In late 2019, I found myself bored as all hell walking the streets of Detroit, Michigan with a camera, when I found… this. I had absolutely no context for the 17-foot-tall bronze statue of two cartoonish figures staring into the universe with skull-and-crossbones heads, but I loved them.

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"Waiting" by KAWS — Credit: Griffin Parker / KAWS

For the uninitiated, KAWS is a popular Brooklyn-based artist following in the corporately-collaborative footsteps of Andy Warhol. In no particular order, KAWS has collaborated with brands like Disney, NIKE, The North Face, UNIQLO, Peanuts, Dior, and many more. He’s no stranger to the food and beverage world either, having designed multiple different cereal boxes for General Mills over the years.

Since 2019, I’ve slowly worked towards visiting every giant KAWS sculpture on public display. To date, I’ve crossed off one on permanent display in Brooklyn and a temporary one in Pittsburgh, the latter of which hosted an entire exhibition inside the The Andy Warhol Museum. As an uncultured food & beverage writer, this is the closest I’ll get to high art anytime soon.

All this to say, I leapt at the chance to cover a brand new collaboration between ABSOLUT Vodka and KAWS. ABSOLUT commissioned the painting below from KAWS last year for the brand’s Art Collection, which got the wheels spinning on an official partnership between the two.

Following that collaboration, KAWS designed an Artist Edition bottle (below) integrating the original painting and his iconic double-X motif. As of October 1st, the ABSOLUT KAWS Artist Edition bottle is available at select retailers nationwide and on ABSOLUT’s webstore while supplies last.

ABSOLUT is no stranger to producing Artist Edition bottles, having worked for over forty years with over 550 artists (including Keith Haring and Andy Warhol–full circle!) on commissioned artwork, collaborations, and special bottle designs.

Alongside the Artist Edition bottles, ABSOLUT has created a special cocktail recipe to celebrate the collaboration, reproduced below.