ArtSet, Frieze Art Fair and La Maison Fontaine Absinthe

The affection for Absinthe amongst the great artists of the 18th and early 19th centuries is well documented, not least in some of their art. It's not surprising then that La Maison Fontaine - a traditionally distilled, artisan Absinthe with a contemporary twist - would be involved in both reviving the interest in true Absinthe and hanging out with the up and coming ArtSet in the early 21st Century!

Monday the 11th October saw the launch of Frieze Art Fair week and ArtSet organised an event at The Haymarket Hotel with La Maison Fontaine as a guest for the guests. We had fountains ready for both The Fontaine of Youth and a perfect serve of iced water with or without sugar depending on the palate preference.

ArtSet is a contemporary arts membership circle that focuses on creating access and exposing members to the London art scene through private gallery openings, curator-led tours of museum exhibitions, artist talks, art film screenings and studio visits. ArtSet aims to educate its members and provide them with the necessary tools to view art works critically and thoughtfully within a comfortable, engaging and social setting. The fact that their inaugural event was held in the Pool Room of the Haymarket Hotel would be testament to that!

The video installations were by Nicole Cohen who was showing her work for the first time in London. Although traditionally trained in painting and drawing, today Cohen primarily uses the concept of collage and video to question the rules of social etiquette, performance anxiety and critically examine expected behaviour in private life. Both the works 'How to Make Your Windows Beautiful (2007) and Sunday Morning (2007) were completely absorbing as each moved the observer through a private human space with an incongruous landscape as a backdrop. This layering effect gives each piece a strangely haunting and 3d effect which I'd highly recommend a viewing of.

Nicole is an American born artist now based in Berlin and as well as being a very creative and innovative artist she's also a rather lovely lady!

Later in the evening I introduced her and the ArtSet crowd to La Maison Fontaine and guided them though the history and production of Absinthe, expelling many myths in the process. As always La Maison Fontaine was extremely well received with the Fontaine of Youth proving to be particularly popular.

It was a real pleasure to meet so many creative and receptive people and share both the truth about Absinthe and La Maison Fontaine!

If you'd like to find out more about ArtSet please email Fernanda at artsetintl@gmail.com

If you'd like to find out more about the truth behind Absinthe and try La Maison Fontaine please email me at Jenny@vqwine.com