Since its establishment in the 19th century, Zenith has always embraced a bold spirit of breaking every limit in watchmaking craftsmanship. With over 150 years of experience, the brand still holds onto this belief and continues to innovate. Recently, Zenith has combined contemporary art with the brand, inviting renowned Spanish visual artist Felipe Pantone for a collaboration to give the brand’s historic Le Locle headquarters a “new look” with diverse art.
Specializing in combining techniques, using light and shadow, and exploring different elements through geometric shapes, Felipe Pantone this time uses the waterproof canvas on the main building of ZENITH watch factory as a canvas for creative expression. By combining dazzling colorful spectrums and digital patterns, he designs a huge artwork covering the entire exterior of the building, transforming this headquarters factory of ZENITH, which was completed as early as 1865 and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, into a creative workshop in the small town of Le Locle.
This Argentine-Spanish artist actually started exploring art through graffiti at the age of 12. Growing up in a digital technology-dominated era, Felipe Pantone has realized that he has always been exploring the relationship between light, shadow, and color. Influenced by digital technology and inspired by Victor Vasarely and Carlos Cruz-Diez, Felipe Pantone has begun to create and explore through digital software, abandoning academic and current art theories to rediscover the perceptual value in the digital world. This coincides perfectly with the brand spirit of ZENITH, leading to the collaboration this time.
Felipe Pantone’s work is diverse, ranging from paintings to interactive kinetic art installations. He sees art as a meditation on the way humans consume visual information, and this creative direction has garnered attention in the art world. Due to the high recognition of his work, Felipe Pantone has recently sparked discussions. Last year, at Phillips’ Hong Kong Autumn Auction, he set a personal auction record with his piece “Chronmadynamica Manipulable,” selling for double the estimated price – a total of HK$325,000, including buyer’s premium.
資料及圖片來源：Courtesy of ZENITH
