Behind the Label with Shaquille-Aaron Keith | Artist Interview

The Nicholson Artist Series x Shaquille-Aaron Keith.

The Nicholson Edit

“I wanted to see more than a label on a bottle, I wanted the artwork to stand alone as a concept so beautiful”

Multi-disciplinary artist Shaquille-Aaron Keith talks about artistic endeavours, inspirations, and his exclusive collaboration with Nicholson.

Shaquille-Aaron Keith: an artist of authenticity and self-expression. A connoisseur of talent, his art spans art, poetry, fashion, and now label design.

Born in South-East London, Shaquille acts as a 21st-century visionary, bringing afro-surrealist painting to the forefront of the London art scene. His style encapsulates the work of neo-expressionist Jean-Michel Basquiat, renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch, author Donald Goines, and rap artist Nas.

Prior to art and poetry, Shaq unlatched the door to the fashion world, amassing a cult following and just shy of 800,000 followers on YouTube, through fashion channel, PAQ. An indubitable marriage of fashion and art, Shaq has gone on to work with Gucci beauty, Diesel and Hugo Boss.

He now turns to Nicholson – with its British/Caribbean upbringing, to design and curate limited edition labels for our iconic London Dry Gin, and Blood Orange gin. His focus? The undoubtable beauty of botanicals, floral protagonists, and surrealist nature of a going on a date.

An introduction: where did it all begin?

“My name's Shaquille-Aaron Keith - I'm from South London, but I'm of Trinidadian heritage. I've been a painter for as long as I can remember. The first thing I ever painted was a sunflower - my mum still has that sunflower in our house.

I was inspired by cartoons. My older brothers used to watch a lot of Dragon Ball Z and a lot of anime, like ultimate muscle, Shin Chan, all that kind of stuff. So, growing up, I would be drawing all the characters I saw on TV. From then on, it just became habitual for me to be drawing all the time”.

Tell us about the Nicholson collaboration:

“This collaboration has been a great opportunity for me to expand my creative efforts. I don’t usually tend to step outside my medium – it was amazing to see Nicholson putting my work in a different space that I’ve never seen before. It’s always been a dream of mine to design a label for an alcoholic drink, with gin being my favourite, it made it extra special.

Nicholson being a British brand that has ties in the Caribbean honestly feels like a reflection of me. I was raised by my mother who moved from Trinidad for work. This was such a great opportunity for me to work with a brand that aligns with my own personal journey, of who I am today.”

How did it feel to have creative freedom for this limited edition?

“My mind doesn’t really follow the rules, I think that’s why surrealism is my preferred painting style. I was so gassed to have creative freedom over the project because I knew exactly what I was going to do. It allowed me to fly with my ideas. I wanted to see more than a label on a bottle, I wanted the artwork to stand alone as a concept so beautiful, to be a piece that can stand alone.”

What were your inspirations behind the labels? Let’s start with the Original London Dry Gin:

“The concept for the London Dry abstract started with thinking about a couple on a date. I wanted to make the date look as surreal as possible, with the floral protagonist pulling away the tablecloth to reveal who Nicholson are. I wanted to stick to what I believe the themes of London Dry Gin to be; blue, juniper berries, and the natural elements of the spirit.

I thought it would be a nice touch to make the neck of the table the top of the gin bottle, with flags representing the Caribbean floating on the cork within.

Obviously, it’s all down to interpretation, but I wanted to present Nicholson gin in his natural form, with flowers flourishing in and around the liquid”.

Tell us about the inspiration behind your Blood Orange Gin design:

“For the Blood Orange Gin I wanted to showcase a natural scene of flowers blooming alongside the beautiful, tasty looking oranges. With butterflies and bees, I wanted to represent the importance of nature. You have a couple looking for some fresh juice, and some friends already celebrating – it's a celebration of what nature has to offer.

I tend to use flowers as protagonists in my work. It made sense to bring the flowers and fruits together in a surrealist twist. Afro-surrealism is something I love to tap into, people like Jordan Peele do it so well, and I thought, why do bring it into visual arts? If you have the skill to paint, that’s great. If you have imagination that’s great. But if you can bring them both together, whilst putting your culture in as well, you're going to do something extra terrific.”

What’s your go-to median?

“Oil. I didn’t mean to pick oil paint as a median, as a teenager I went to an art shop thinking all paints were the same. Down the road I realised that oil paint is what the masters use. After that, I thought, let’s stick with it as one day I want to be a master myself.

Oil just has such a beautiful texture; it has a different kind of vibrance to it. Me and oil are simply a better marriage than me and acrylic.”

Who are your main artistic inspirations?

“For painting, my main inspiration, is Hieronymus Bosch. I like his detailed work; he's absolutely amazing. Dorothy Tanning as well - she's an amazing surrealist. I try to pay homage to their greatness in my own way, applying my own taste to it.

Naturally, I’ve been influenced by other artists as well, such as Jacob Lawrence, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Frida Kahlo.

In terms of literature, I turn to rap music, authors and the greats. I love Nas, reading Donald Goins books, and poetry by Langston Hughes. Growing up my mum bought me Shakespeare's whole play set, don't know why. You know what, I read all of them when I was about 13 – since then, I have been into words.”

How do you go about marrying a painting with words?

Nicholson asked Shaq to curate a poem for each limited-edition label – featured on our gift boxes, that arrive with every purchase.

“For this campaign, the paintings came first, and the poetry came after. The poetry felt like a cherry on the cake for this collaboration. I looked at the paintings and the words just came to me.”

What’s your cocktail of choice?

“I promise I’m not just saying this, but honestly just get me a nice gin, some elderflower cordial, and I’m good to go. I’m so excited to try the signature cocktail, it’s like it was made for me.”

What’s your perfect night out?

“It’s easy, it can be anywhere, anytime, as long as I’ve got my friends”.