Sakurako Reed Third Artist Featured on feverdream Mural
Sakurako with her mural titled The life isn’t gonna imitate the art on its own.
Back in November, it was time to rotate the mural and show off the artwork of our third resident, Sakurako Reed. And just the other week we were able to catch up with her at the site of her mural!
On November 15th, the approximately 38 foot tall mural was installed on The Shoreway building on W. 76th Street in Battery Park, right on the outskirts of the Gordon Square Arts District. The previous mural featured the work of Elizabeth Lax, our second resident artist. But it didn’t completely replace Elizabeth’s work.
The life isn’t gonna imitate the art on its own shot from the air.
It only took three murals until we got meta. The life isn’t gonna imitate the art on its own by Sakurako Reed depicts her signature fish characters wheat pasting a painting she completed during her residency overtop the previous mural made by Elizabeth Lax. The superimposed painting is The Feather 2023 Upgrade, a version of Alphonse Mucha’s The Feather. Sakurako talked about absurdity as a context to her work—specifically agreeing with Albert Camus’ idea that one of the three ways to cope with The Absurd is to embrace it. She wrote: “And truly, I feel there’s no better way to do so than absurd humor.”
Currently her fish characters are a staple to her work. She uses them to represent the human condition to a degree. Usually her fish are superimposed themselves over top or within notable paintings. One thing they come to represent is the absurdity of every day life, how we are just trying to get by when in reality we are fish out of water. Her utilization of her fish characters that are obfuscating a painting about eeriness in uncertainty and unease, with a painting dealing with the absurd is very apropos. This mural seems to posit that all of life is absurd, all we can do is laugh to keep from crying.
We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this mural over the last few months! The fourth mural is set to go up this month. Stay tuned!
