‘By the River’- Hsiao-Chi Tsai & Kimiya Yoshikawa – An eye-catching and intricate new public art work on the facade of Greenwich Peninsula development.

As part of Greenwich Peninsula’s ongoing commitment to bringing art to unusual places, ‘By the River’ by Hsiao-Chi Tsai & Kimiya Yoshikawa is an eye-catching and intricate new public art work for the facades of their residential and commercial properties.

Tsai & Yoshikawa work collaboratively on otherworldly organic art installations that are both eye-catching at a distance whilst also rewarding closer inspection, with intricate details of abstract shapes, patterns, and textures that dance with changes of light.

The duo usually create three dimensional sculptures from their drawings, but this time the drawing becomes the finish artwork, and is layered with stylised motifs in different scales and arranged in playful compositions. Different from their usual mixed media sculptures, this site-specific artwork is created by assembling thousands of painstakingly fragments of stencilled vinyl puzzles, and wrap around the three buildings’ window facade, to create a continuous large-scale mural.

Both artists are experts in bold use of colour and pattern. They want the artwork looks like an abstract painting being directly painted on the glass window using giant brushes. On closed inspection, the brush strokes are preserved on the cutout details to mimic the organic rough finish of the strokes. They use the series of glass windows in each three buildings facade as blank canvas, creating a continuous imaginary landscape, like an adventurous journey with moments of surprise and discovery.

Tsai & Yoshikawa’s inspiration for shapes and forms ranges from feathers and flowers to sea anemone and jellyfish, and from microscopic details to the giant swirls of galaxies. This celebration of natural organic forms is characteristic of the artists’ work as they present viewers with familiar shapes but simultaneously lead them on a journey of discovery to something new.

The name of the artwork ‘By the River’ reflects the abstract yet figurative artwork took reference and inspired by the unique geographical location of Greenwich Peninsula being wrapped three sided by the River Thames, and its history being marshland with wildlife and iris flowers, which disappeared after industrial revolution, but now is being brought back to the area’s ecology park It also reflects the artwork is formed around the three buildings and linked harmoniously as a whole.

The artists hope ‘By the River’ celebrates Greenwich Peninsula’s past, present and future, capturing the inspiring life style and lively atmosphere it offers, and is a dynamic cheerful artwork that is visually welcoming and can be enjoyed by all members of the community and the visitors in the neighbourhood.

Tsai & Yoshikawa have undertaken numerous commissions, projects and exhibitions internationally, debuting in 2007 with a spectacular sequence of seven large-scale window displays for the Harvey Nichols flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. Most prominently, ‘The Lion’, a three meter high permanent sculpture unveiled in 2009 in the heart of London’s Chinatown. This public art piece, inspired by the historical identity of the site was chosen and subsequently one of four works recognised for the prestigious Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture in the same year. Their most recent permanent commission, is a 9 story high series of hanging sculptures ‘Aquatic Flora I & II’ for the new East Wing atriums at St. Thomas’ Hospital in Westminster, London.