Last night, the Highsnobiety team was on the ground at 1800 Tequila’s Essential Artists series event in New York City. The series, a collaboration with artists on bottle designs, boasts an impressive history having worked with Keith Haring and Basquiat, to name a few. For its ninth edition, 1800 Tequila teamed up with Shantell Martin on a run of six original, limited-edition bottles that we're really exited about because they showcase her dope drawing style.
You may have come across Martin’s signature black-and-white drawings in projects she's worked on with Puma or an interior she designed for Refinery29’s 29Rooms. Whether she's drawing on sneakers, on walls, or on bottles, she revels in using unconventional canvases, and last night was no exception. Martin performed a live art show in front of an audience of discerning art, fashion, and culture insiders taking marker to plexiglass and drawing a wholly original piece.
"I started my career in Japan drawing live in Japanese clubs and venues and that enabled me to really extract my style," Martin tells us. "Because if you're drawing live, you don't have time to think, you don't have time to plan, you don't have time to hesitate, and when you repeat that it allows you to really find yourself."
Martin also provided live commentary as she drew, a rare occurrence for her, but something that highlighted how important the process of creating—rather than the final outcome—is at the heart of her work. "When you draw live, you put yourself in this really intimidating situation where you're really vulnerable, and in that situation you don't have any time to be anyone else but yourself, and it really keeps you honest. I don't really like drawing live, but I use it as a mechanism for me to be my most honest artist self."
The themes of honesty and identity Martin's work explores are reflected in the bottle designs with her drawings and her maxims "Who Are You," "You Are You," and "Are You You." Words we should all live by.
If you couldn't make it out last night, be sure to check out the 1800 Tequila bottles here, which drop today.
