Hennessy XO Extra Old Cognac Art by Zhang Enli

“Poetry makes nothing happen,” W. H. Auden observed, but life without poetry is apt to be pretty bleak. For the 2022 Lunar New Year, artist Zhang Enli shows us exactly how bleak life would in fact be if it wasn’t for all those rhythmical compositions. His vibrant artwork, 'Poetry and Wine Welcome the Tiger' celebrates the poetry, optimism, and vitality of the Lunar New Year. “The artwork is about spirit and sense over appearances; about the force of transformation, even in the tiniest details,” Enli says. Favoring abstraction over figurative representation, the artist conjures the tiger — an ancestral symbol of power, success, and confidence — with dynamic lines and vibrant color. “While this painting may be different from traditional tiger-themed paintings, my hope is that people will intuitively recall the animal’s beauty and vitality.” For the Year of the Tiger, he also chose to pay tribute to the peaceful beauty of the Charente River in Cognac, using it as a metaphor for transformation and the passage of time. “The Charente River left a profound impression on me,” the artist recalls after his visit to Cognac.