For this Lunar New Year, Diageo’s iconic Johnnie Walker continues its collaboration with Visual Artist James Jean, who created a striking and forward-looking design, which became the centrepiece of the brand’s celebratory offer to mark the arrival of the Year of the Snake.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, and raised in the US in New Jersey, Jean’s work is known for its ability to transcend genres by fusing contemporary subjects with techniques. A student of the School of Visual Arts in New York, his art is inspired by traditional processes such as Chinese scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints and Renaissance-style portraiture.
This new collaboration marks an expansion of Jean’s partnership with Johnnie Walker, following the design he created for 2024’s Year of the Dragon. His vibrant Year of the Snake design, which features on a limited edition release of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, features a trio of snakes shedding their skins to represent the reinvention and embracing the next chapter.
DFNI took the opportunity to talk to Jean about the project, his inspirations, and why collaboration can be so important.
Hi James, to start with, please can you tell us how your partnership with Johnnie Walker came about?
It was an email titled ‘Partnership with Johnnie Walker.’ that sparked my interest. Early on in my career, I did a lot of commercial illustration, but then I moved to focusing on fine art. I therefore prefer to work with brands when it feels collaborative, so the word ‘partnership’ piqued my interest from the start.
For this project, I took the energy provided by the brand and channelled it into these rough drawings. My drawings always have a lot of energy, with lots of erasing and redrawing. It’s almost like sculpting an image out of air. There’s this tangle of lines, very lyrical lines, which is what I’m known for. That type of line work is good for depicting a dragon looping in the air gracefully. My work involves layers. It’s all about depth, technically, using traditional methods but also incorporating new media like digital tools.
Together, we wanted to illustrations that felt different, new and innovative – respect for the past but also looking into the future with optimism; in the same way that Johnnie Walker stands for progress through that incredible Keep Walking spirit.
How do you go about working on a project such as the Lunar New Year collection?
To be honest, none of the project is finished in my head before pen meets paper. The image starts to reveal itself as I begin sketching. It’s almost like teasing form out of nothingness as I scratch the surface, the pencil marks grasping at a vague form or idea. When I use the eraser, it’s as if I’m carving away material from a sculpture. That’s part of the mystery and beauty of drawing and making art, to allow the process to reveal the voice within. Too much conscious effort and self-awareness can lead to paralysis. For me, I try to enter a state of flow and allow the drawing to emerge on its own.
Can you talk us through the 2025 Year of the Snake edition? How did you put this particular project together?
The layers in Johnnie Walker Blue Label whisky served as a fascinating source of inspiration for me. Much like the intricate layers of flavour in the whisky, I aimed to create a visual experience with depth and complexity in my artwork. The synergy between the layers in the whisky and my artistic approach resulted in a harmonious blend, enriching the overall narrative of the Lunar New Year celebration.
I portrayed the snake shedding its skin to represent the idea of renewal and growth. The three snakes symbolize the attributes of wisdom, intelligence, and intuition, while also representing the past, present, and future. The snakes are constantly growing, transforming, and adapting to changing conditions.
The snakes in the artwork are stylized and inspired by Chinese or East Asian decorative motifs rather than being a realistic depiction of a specific species. The intricate patterns, metallic textures, and vivid colors reference cloisonné, a Chinese art form used in decorative metalwork that became prominent during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The use of this style lends the piece a sense of elegance and cultural heritage. Serpents are often associated with wisdom, transformation, and power. They can symbolize renewal due to their ability to shed their skin, which you can see unfurling at various areas in the composition. In the Chinese zodiac, the snake is seen as enigmatic, intuitive, and wise, embodying both danger and beauty. The artwork also celebrates the snake’s duality – its capacity to enchant and threaten, signifying transformation, protection, and cosmic order. This duality and complexity also reflect the flavor and experience of drinking Blue Label.
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What is it about the Johnnie Walker brand that appeals to you and inspires you in this ongoing collaboration?
The ethos of Keep Walking deeply resonates within me. Beneath the superficial successes lies a litany of rejections and hardships, overcome through sheer determination. The Striding Man keeps moving forward, no matter what.
What are the challenges in a project like this? How do you approach them?
The form of the serpent is very similar to the dragon. But I had to find a way to differentiate the Snake from the last year’s Dragon, while maintaining the integrity of my artwork. To fuse with Johnnie Walker, an important binding element is the colour. It took some effort to adjust the art to achieve the right hue of blue to match the bottle and the various contexts through which the art would be presented. Also, I had to adjust the snake to wrap around not only the box but the bottle, so this required a fair bit of compositional engineering.
How are the worlds of art and whisky linked in your opinion?
The Johnnie Walker philosophy – Keep Walking – is an idea that resonates deeply with me. It’s a reminder to persevere, embrace challenges, and continuously evolve. In both life and art, it encourages me to explore uncharted paths, experiment with new techniques, and stay committed to the journey of self-discovery.