Like many artists we seek out to interview, Vivian Le first introduced herself to me on the store shelves of my local beer store, Beermiscuous, where her label for Lo Rez Brewing’s Biere de Miel knocked me on the floor even before I tried the beer. After that, I saw Flora and Passionfruit Shortcut on the shelves of Whole Foods.
If I had known at the time when I reached out to her that her works had been shown at some of my favorite smaller galleries here in Chicago like Galerie F and Rotofugi, I might not have. Somewhere between star-strucked-ness and intimidation there’s a zone where I’m apprehensive to tread when it comes to career fine artists. I don’t know if it’s because I went to art school myself (and I’m not one) or possibly because I’m sure that such an artist has already filled out a million biographies. There are certainly innumerable interviews with Vivian out there and it makes me wonder if I can bring something new to the table, even wrapped up snugly in the venn diagram of beer marketing and Art with a capital “A”.
At any rate, I’m glad I did.
Thirsty Bastards: My favorite label you’ve done is Lo Rez “Biere de Miel”? Can you tell me the story behind its conception?
Vivian Le: Dave Dahl [of Low Rez Brewing] usually gives me a few clues such as color palette and any sort of elements he imagines when he thinks of the beer flavor before I start. For this one, he wanted me to think of my take on the well known, traditional Biere de Miel label by the Belgium brewery, Brasserie Dupont (picture attached).
Since it’s flavored with honey, I immediately thought of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” so I decided to draw a character reminiscent of Goldilocks, eating honey from some barrels. I tried to keep the color palette the same as the traditional Biere de Miel label. It was fun! I enjoyed this one a lot.
TB: What is your favorite label you’ve done so far for Lo Rez and why?
VL: I think my favorite so far might be the Passionfruit Shortcut. The fun but challenging part of these labels is that I have to figure out how to work with all these different color palettes first while being able to incorporate some type of narrative in what I’m drawing on the label. I really liked working with the purples and the bit of yellow in this one.
The idea behind the label was originally just me wanting to recycle an old sketch I had of two characters in that same setup: a girl about to kiss someone with a labyrinth for a face. Dave encouraged me to tie in any sort of story between the Shortcut labels so I thought of wanting to tie in a reference to Greek mythological figures– specifically Dionysus, god of wine and Ariadne, goddess of mazes.
I titled the art in the label as “A Night in Naxos” which is where the two have been written to have met and fell in love. I leave everything I make up to interpretation and it doesn’t matter to me if people don’t think of the references immediately. I just like having these stories in mind as I draw. 🙂
TB: How did you get started making labels for Lo Rez?
VL: Flora was my first one and that was March of 2020. For some reason, it feels a bit longer! I think the pandemic has warped my sense of time.
Thirsty Bastards: Dave, what made you reach out to her initially?
Dave Dahl: In the before days, the Lo Rez taproom had art on our walls from local artists as part of an ongoing project called “Rezident”. The local art community is super tight. So a couple of the Rezident artists introduced us to Vivian. We clicked, her art was/is stand-out, so it was a no brainer to ask her if she wanted to do a can for us. Sweeeeet!
TB: What is your process with a new upcoming label?
DD: We’ve learned over the years we need a tight template, including the branding aspects (Lo Rez logo, government required stuff, etc), and the artist needs some inspiration. Cuz green-field is tough for everyone. The inspiration is usually a color palette and rough concept. We also try to leave tons of conceptual space for the artist to interpret the inspiration/beer in the way that suits their art.
TB: What do you appreciate about the way Vivian works?
DD: Oh man. Everything. Seriously. From a biz perspective, she’s always on-time or early (even with tight timelines). The art is really easy to fit-and-finish within our template. And her art is ALWAYS incredibly beautiful and intriguing. Check out the Shortcut series of beers she does. There’s a theme / storyline there…..that only she knows 🙂
Thirsty Bastards: Vivian, where are you from and where did you learn to be an artist?
Vivian Le: I am Chicago-born! I originally grew up in the Uptown neighborhood but have moved around the city. I credit my CPS teachers for encouraging me since I was a child to make art. Art and music are often endangered in public school curriculum because of budgeting so I consider myself lucky to have been able to experience having art classes from a young age. I feel like if I didn’t have that, I would have been a different person.
TB: Can you tell me a bit about your process? Are you all digital? Traditional? Mix of both?
VL: A mix of both! I have a Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting. I spent a lot of time in college on the traditional basics. As for digital, most of that was self-taught. I relied on practicing every day and the help of friends. I’m still trying to figure out how to combine both together to make it more comfortable & efficient for myself, but it depends on what I’m producing.
For a handful of my traditional paintings or drawings, I start off with a rough digital sketch on my iPad. I don’t like wasting paper haha so it’s less stressful when I can just do all the preliminary ideation electronically.
For the labels, they’re all digital but in the sense that it’s all done on my iPad. A few people have asked what fonts I use for the beer names but it’s all hand-drawn lettering. They might be slightly wonky because I don’t have a background in lettering or typography.
I use Procreate. I like that it’s a one time fee (no subscription) to use the software and it’s pretty fast. The developers always add new features periodically. It’s easy to use and it’s the main reason I got an iPad. Besides the iPad, if I’m on my PC, I use a plug in Huion tablet and use Clip Studio Paint or Photoshop for touch ups.
TB: What other art do you make?
VL: Outside of the labels, I mostly make work in my usual pink & red palette. I draw a lot of dolls or weird kids, often acting strange or committing violence lol.
TB: How can your fans find you and your work? Can they buy your art?
TB: They can usually find me on my social media. Most sales happen via local galleries or pop-ups. I’m bad at self-promotion but I try to post about any upcoming events that will display my work on my platforms.
On rare occasions, I will post some prints or sticker limited edition drops and will take purchases over dm & email. However, anyone is welcome to message or email me at any time if they want to inquire. Art isn’t full time for me at the moment, so these opportunities are often sporadic.
My website is currently under construction, but you can find me on Instagram and Twitter at @nuwagraph.
