Influential Japanese street artist Lady Aiko will transform the alleyway between Black Lion Street and Bartholomew Square in Brighton city centre with a dramatic new mural.
Lady Aiko will be creating the mural as part of the The Costume Games a five-day event in September being run by Brighton’s Japanese restaurant MOSHIMO in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council as part of the Festival of Rugby celebrations. The mural will depict a scene from a classical Japanese play.
Lady Aiko is recognised in the contemporary street art world as among the most important artists to emerge this century, and her large-scale works, indoors and outdoors, can be seen in many cities, museums and art galleries all over the world.
In 2008, Aiko collaborated with Banksy, posing as a Japanese tourist and taking the now famous pictures of him doing unauthorised installations at MoMA , Brooklyn Museum, Natural History Museum and The Met.
In 2013, Louis Vuitton released an Aiko silk scarf as a collaborative accessory line of Foulards D’Artistes.
The Costume Games will be a city-wide event which will be inviting people to “dress up and play” over five days in the lead up to the opening weekend of Rugby World Cup 2015.
A team of leading film costume designers, who have between them created some of the most enduring and iconic screen characters in the history of film, will be on hand to help people “get into character” through costume, encouraging them to turn the city into a stage where they can become creative and explore different personas.
Nicholas Röhl co-owns MOSHIMO with Karl Jones and is Festival Director of The Costume Games.
He said: “The Costume Games is about people getting dressed up in costume – but we didn’t just want people to dress up, but parts of the city as well.”
“This is why we invited Lady Aiko to the city: so that she could “costume” walls with her daring and beautiful art.”
Lady Aiko will be one of the many artists who will be invited to the Old Steine on Wednesday September 16 to help “costume the gardens”, turning the Old Steine into the home of The Costume Games for the following five days.
Mr Röhl continued; “Lady Aiko will be creating live art on that day, and we’ll be inviting other artists and set designers to come along to ‘costume’ the Old Steine Gardens with articles of clothes and pieces of art.”
Lady Aiko’s residency in the City is being sponsored by Art Republic and Ink_d Gallery will be showing her work in an exhibition titled Edo City Girl which runs from September 11-20.
Councillor Emma Daniel, Chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s Neighbourhood, Communities and Equalities Committee said; “We are looking forward to welcoming Lady Aiko to our city and are delighted that she will be leaving a lasting legacy with this stunning mural.”