Pabst Co. pops top on blue-ribbon artwork for S.A. gallery
Brewer steps into city’s art scene
Matt Bruhn was strolling through his new Southtown neighborhood recently when he spotted a building that seemed like an ideal gallery space. As it happens, Bruhn, president of Pabst Brewing Co., was in the market for just that.
The beer company, which moved its headquarters to San Antonio last year, runs an annual art contest with a first prize of $10,000.
Entries don’t have to reference beer beyond the company’s familiar blue ribbon logo. This year’s winner, “There Is No Place Like Home” by Boise-based artist Ashley Dreyfus, features the colorful creatures that often recur in her work just hanging out.
While the winning work ends up on Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans and merch, few get to see the other entries.
“We get thousands of entries from around the country, and they are all so good,” Bruhn said. “It’s uncool that we don’t get to expose these artists’ work. So we thought, we’ve got all these cool art entrants, let’s grab a quick space here and put them on the wall. And then invite people to hang out, check it out.”
Pabst Blue Ribbon Studios opened Saturday. The space recently housed a yoga studio. Transforming it into an exhibition space was fairly easy, said Seamus Gallagher, senior brand manager for the company.
“The good thing about a gallery is all it really requires is white walls,” Gallagher said. “We came in and just freshened the place up, gave it some fresh paint.”
The first exhibit features the top 25 images submitted for the 2020 edition of the art can contest.
“We invite consumers and fans alike to do whatever they want in terms of design to reimagine our branding,” Gallagher said. “We give them very little direction. This year, we had over 4,000 entries in the contest.”
The contest has run for nine years. It is not the com
pany’s only venture into the creative sphere. Pabst also operates 1700 Naud Gallery in Los Angeles and 98 Orchard in New York, and has supported mural programs, as well.
So, how did the company that brews Pabst Blue Ribbon, a favorite of hipsters, get involved in the arts?
“We didn’t aim to be involved in the arts,” Gallagher said. “The creative community adopted the brand early on.
“Over the years we stayed true to that, and over time the level of engagement grew and grew, from art shows, to merch, to murals, to the art can. It wasn’t through a ton of planning or insights but through the organic development of the relationships, which grew into what it is today.”
The plan for the Southtown space is to follow the current exhibit with shows that most likely will spotlight works by artists in San Antonio and across the state.
“We’re still exploring all the possibilities,” Gallagher said.
One of those possibilities is an artist residency program similar to the one the company offers in its Los Angeles gallery. It’s also possible that Pabst might do pop-up exhibitions in other parts of town, Bruhn said.
“I’ve come to realize after living here for six months, it’s a very spread city,” he said. “People do commute down to downtown and Southtown, and that’s cool, but equally, there might be an opportunity for us to pop up on the East Side, West Side, North Side, depending on where the wind takes us, so we’re debating whether or not (the Southtown gallery is) permanent.”
The Pabst team may be announcing another art project in the next month or so, he said. He teased that, if it comes together, it will be similar to attractions in other cities.
“I lived in Sydney, I lived in New York, I lived in
L.A., I lived in Austin and there are public spaces for muralists in each of those cities, whether it’s the Coney Island Art Walls or the Bushwick art walk (in New York),” he said. “We think there’s an opportunity for us to bring a few folks together in San Antonio to have something of that acclaim, using public street mural art in a really interactive way.
“That’s our vision, so we have a little plan we’re cooking up. But I’ll leave that to further announcement.”