In auction at Sotheby’s for charity the large formats of Ornellaia 2021 “Vendemmia d’Artista”

It is “Generosity” the character of Ornellaia 2021 by Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, the “jewel” of the Frescobaldi Group, and the inspirational theme of Marinella Senatore, an Italian artist working around the world, who created the “Vendemmia d’Artista”, edition No. 16: a series of labels, a sculpture for Salmanazar (9 liters) and a site-specific work. Some of the 110 large formats made unique by the works of Marinella Senatore and the one-of-a-kind Salmanazar will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in an online auction between May 22 and June 5, 2024. For the sixth year in a row, all proceeds will be donated by the estate, Marchesi Frescobaldi, to the Solomon R.Guggenheim Foundation for the Mind’s Eye program, which enables blind and visually impaired people to enjoy the art experience through special pathways. It includes verbal descriptions of artworks, sensory objects, artwork creation, participatory activities and conversations to promote impressions, emotional connections and memories, the perception of which lasts over time. The original collages, handmade by the artist, will be the site-specific work that will enrich Ornellaia’s precious art gallery. Finally, in order to share the “Vendemmia d’Artista” with its community of enthusiasts, also this year in each 6-bottle case of Ornellaia 2021, one is dressed with the special label signed by the artist.
In the works dedicated to Ornellaia 2021, Senatore used his artistic codes and translated the character of the wine into a universal language. The collages and “luminaries” are found in the labels that dress the 0.75 bottle, the 100 double magnums and the 10 Imperials, and in the sculpture dedicated to the unique Salmanazar. “I have observed and studied Ornellaia for a long time”, explains artist Marinella Senatore, “the energy of the elements of nature, such as the sea, the wind, the stars, which are found here, combines with the energy of the people who work there, and creates correlations that are statements of awareness: “empowerment of the human being”. The character “Generosity” passes through the concept, much loved by the artist, of “care” and giving, and this is where the hands, Marinella Senatore’s iconic element, come in. The profiles of the hands of the men and women who work daily at the excellence of Ornellaia, have been included in the collages created for the labels and become portrait and emotion. Dance is also an important code: dancing is an archetypal gesture in which the community celebrates itself, and Marinella Senatore wanted to represent this ancestral movement, citing the harvest festival, through both original scores and dancing figures.
“Our identity is based on place, on work, on being a team”, stresses Lamberto Frescobaldi, Frescobaldi president and part of the ownership, “the character 2021 was born from the generosity of the earth, of which artist Marinella Senatore’s interpretation has revealed a further sense: the generosity of the earth creates an ecosystem of which we are all part, and it is significant for us that the end-of-harvest celebration is also part of its work”.
The culmination of Marinella Senatore’s artistic process is the light sculpture created for the Salmanazar: on the 9-liter the artist installed one of her famous luminarias, used in the past to bring people together in temporary places defined by light and color. The work for Ornellaia 2021’s Salmanazar is inspired by a rose window in Baroque churches and is made with an innovative cold neon (to have no heat exchange with the wine) and no mercury, to respect the environment.