Futura with Pratt MFA students Macklen Mayse and Jonathan “Johnny Tragedy” Stanish.

Street artist Futura has splashed his signature colored helices on a bottle for Hennessy, following the LVMH-owned cognac house’s successful 2011 match-up with KAWS. This year’s project also included a partnership with Pratt Institute, where a group of eight art and design students and recent graduates were challenged to produce work that illustrates the “wild rabbit.” The theme is a nod to the creatures that dart about Cognac, France and represents a force that drives people from one success to another, according to Hennessy brand lore. Jeff Bellantoni, chair of graduate communications design at Pratt, served as the faculty advisor for the competition, for which Futura mentored the students as they created works that ranged from a hand-crocheted afghan rug made from 185 plastic bags collected over the course of a month (the work of MFA student Natalie Sims) to a glamorously shredded evening gown topped by a rabbit head mask and photographed in a series of idylls (by BFA student Sophie Hui-Ni). Stay tuned for the full scoop on the contest winners. In the meantime, here’s an up-close and personal look at Futura, courtesy of Hennessy.
(Photos from top left: UnBeige and courtesy Hennessy)