Japan Day in Central Park

This was my proposal for the Japan Day artwork competition in the Central park this year. I was looking for elements of Japanese culture that would still be recognizable to a Western audience, but which haven’t been terribly overused yet. I eventually settled on using the traditional style of Japanese map drawing, the full-body tattoos of the Edo period, and the dramatic hairstyle of samurai (and these days, sumo wrestlers).

The tattoo became a map of Central Park covered by cherry blossom , drawn in the traditional style — you may recognize the northern half of the park, with the reservoir, the North Woods, the swimming pool and Harlem Meer. The man looks out over a dramatic Manhattan sunset.

Even though my artwork was not selected by the jury (the results were announced a few weeks ago), I really enjoyed the entire process of making it last year. So even though it’s been done for almost half a year, this one still my favorite!

Something a bit old, but the ideas are still new