In a week defined by spectacle, Ruinart is opting for something you can’t outbid or out-party: uncompromising vistas of natural beauty. For this year’s Conversations with Nature commission, which annually taps artists to produce work developed around earthly delights, the Maison tapped Los Angeles-based artist Sam Falls. Throughout the week, passersby at the Miami Beach Convention Center can spot the Ruinart Plaza Bar and Collectors Lounge transformed by a two-part installation drawing upon the elements themselves.
A Vermont native, Falls approaches his work with the intuition of someone who grew up amongst orchards rather than concrete urban sprawl. He begins by placing plants, branches, and other organic materials onto canvas, before layering pigments in an advanced iteration of the childhood pastime of pressing leaves. His resulting output has found a home across the collections of institutions including the Centre Pompidou, Fondation Louis Vuitton, MOCA Los Angeles, and Hammer Museum.
For Ruinart, Falls has immersed himself in the purveyor’s Taissy vineyard in France’s Champagne region, using local flora as tools, pigments, and stencils. Arranged across a sweeping cloth, branches, petals, and leaves sit while moisture shifts and stamps the sprayed pigments in the humidity. The composition was partially inspired by the kindred shapes featured in the Reims Cathedral’s stained-glass windows, echoing the storied regional architecture that anchors Ruinart’s visual language.
“I believe that art can foster an appreciation of nature that resonates with viewers, encouraging them to appreciate and engage with the natural world,” the artist shared in a statement. Indeed, after Falls’s works invite visitors to imagine faraway landscapes at ABMB, where they are on view through Dec. 7, they will travel back to their native lands, taking up residence at Ruinart’s Champagne home. You’re still welcome to commune with them there, but the journey may take you slightly longer.
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