About the Artist: Samer Khudairi

By Dan Carlson

One of the cooler things we’ve learned from talking to artists about their crowlers labels is that, often, these pieces can best be described as “experiments.”

While some of these pieces come to us with a fully formed message or concept, others are more spontaneous - a reflection of something that just happens to be inspiring or simply piquing the curiosity of the artist at a very specific moment in time. And the final product is often as surprising to the artist as it is to us.

To look at it another way, these pieces are sometimes just one small step in an artist’s journey. And what’s fun is that you can trace how previous steps - it could be earlier projects, a class they took, another artist inspiring them - end up influencing these new pieces. But it’s not always clear where the piece will end up. And when they’re done, they’re on to their next snapshot in time.

Our current crowler artist, Samer Khudairi, has an artist’s journey with many paths, spanning several different mediums, formal and self-taught education, professional writing and photography, and - to our delight - the craft brewing industry.

This makes tracing his journey all the more interesting. Follow along in our Q&A with Samer, below.

Where did your journey as an artist begin?

I’ve always carried art materials - pens, notebooks, whatever -  with me, even as a kid. I keep a sharpie with me in my pocket to this day. 

I think my most formative experience was when I went to an art camp as a kid, around age 12. It was incredible being in a space that fostered creativity freely. That’s what made me want to consider doing art as a profession.

At 12, I felt like I was more creative then than now. I was doing pinhole photography, like, I made a camera out of a shoe. Even today, I’m like “wow, that was awesome.” And even then I was getting into collaging a lot. 

I was taking art seriously in high school, too; I was essentially an art studio student as a major. It was art every single day in high school. 

I got into stencil graffiti, and most of my work is now watercolor and mixed media and stenciling graffiti. One reason I really like graffiti is because it has an impermanence. It’s not meant to be forever - you don’t know if it’s going to get tagged or they’re going to paint over it and do something else. And it lends itself to watercolor - it’s a very delicate medium.

What sort of formal art training have you had?

I actually went to school for animation. I’m mostly self taught, but I think having foundations is very important. You have to do figure drawing and sculpture work before developing your own style. Even the collage and watercolor style I do now, I’ve only been doing that for the last two or three years. There’s that Picasso quote, “it took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

How did you develop this style of yours?

I actually studied urban planning, so if you look at this piece from a bird’s eye view, it kind of resembles a cityscape or campus. And even though I’ve always been drawn to city planning and street art, it’s not something you can easily do a lot of, so I started doing it on a smaller scale. I draw upon what I love about graffiti and apply it to watercolor. The relationship between graffiti and watercolor is cool because they’re both expressive mediums and they lend themselves to more happy accidents. They’re free flowing. And the collage aspect I like because it also lends itself to elements of imperfection. It’s like how with graffiti, the wall you’re working with will have its own character. 

What was your process for creating this crowler label?

It started with the watercolor paper itself and it’s texture. I’ve seen beer labels with that texture and I knew it was going to a sticker, so it was important to have that negative space. That element is as important as its own color or swatch, so I did that purposefully when laying out this piece. 

I try at first to pick a color - I think purple, in this case - and then I try to expand it with other elements. One of things I like to work on is limiting the elements and having intention to it so there’s that balance. I try to do a lot with spacing, especially with color. I like to have your eye move around the piece. That’s why balance and line work is important. And I even tried incorporating your logo and the slug to fit this style, too. I didn’t just take your regular stock name and date fields - I added some things to it. 

For the collage, I have a whole art tray of different scrap pieces that I think are cool based on their texture, like some former art pieces and old magazines. Essentially, I do a base layer by putting down some color and gluing elements down. And then go back and look at other sections. There are stampings on there, too, and some pen work. Like, there’s something that says “cheers” in Danish, and there’s a little beer glass. I wanted some beer elements in there, but nothing overwhelming. 

I think of this as study, or a work in progress. I consider a lot of my pieces to be like that. They’re quick and on a smaller scale. I get loose and plant things on the page. I decided where to glue things to keep lines and do it in a way to maintain a shadow. 

It looks like an architect’s notebook or sketch. Some of these things are almost like scribbles, and others are deliberate messaging or placement. But I wanted it to feel like architecture, so there are ruler lines and some rigidity - it’s not just free flowing. It’s easier to build a structure and break it than just go totally free form. 

You’re also a writer, particularly in the beer industry. How did that come about?

Being able to write in a more narrative way in the beer community is incredible. And being allowed to write more creatively, especially with the (Good Beer Hunting) B Roll series has been incredible. A lot of writers are also artists, but for me it just came down to what I could focus on the most. In the ideal world, I’d like to do both and dedicate time to both, but usually one takes more brain capacity than the other. 

I like to write short form, like my artwork. One of my favorite forms of writing is haiku. There is that structure you have to work within, so how can you become poetic within that? 

Full disclosure: we know you because you used to work with our brewer at Jack’s Abby. But what kind of work have you done in craft beer?

I started on the front-of-house staff at Jack’s Abby, but I got really involved in all aspects of it, from design to product to production. But I definitely got drawn to the marketing element of it, and I got to work on the Jack’s Abby marketing team. That lent itself to some creative campaigns, like  social media, photography, beer labels, and merch. 

I became their digital marketing manager. I loved working with my graphic designer on projects. I let the professionals do their jobs, but working with creative teams was something I really enjoyed 

I’m a huge fan of the food and beverage industry, and being able to contribute to it in a creative pursuit is incredible. This is the first time I’ve had my art, besides photography, be represented, and it speaks more to who I am as a person. It feels more like a personal project than something else. 

The whole reason I’m in this field is to showcase the hard work of those around me. I try not to center myself, so this is the first time I’m the artist. Usually, I’m in the other seat. 

And it feels great. I’m really happy with how this came out. Everything has its moment in time, and I’m lucky this worked out. I think the fact that you have this program to support local artists is fantastic. They need support. I felt like I was always supporting them so to have that flipped, I’m a little bashful. And all the artists that you work with are ones I’m fans of. I feel like I’m adding to a larger inspiration, vibe, and network.