Familiar icons of spring will be making a delayed appearance in downtown Naperville this year and will burst on the scene at 2PM June 4 at Nichols Library, 200 West Jefferson Avenue.
That’s when the City of Naperville, in collaboration with College of DuPage’s McAninch Arts Center (MAC), will unveil the newest addition to its vast public art collection.
The installation, part of the MAC’s community-wide “Waves of DuPage: Beautiful Cities Public Art Project,” celebrates the ukiyo-e art of Japan and its influence on art and popular culture today. It comprises four large-scale murals depicting familiar Naperville landmarks enhanced with details captured in the art of Katsushika Hokusai, the famed painter and printmaker behind the Japanese masterpiece, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.
The project will encompass more than 32 murals in 20 locations throughout the county, each portraying a building or landmark specific to the region. Naperville resident Richard Lo, the accomplished artist who recently completed the “Chinese Kite Festival” mural on the south wall of the DuPage Children’s Museum, was commissioned to take on the effort.
Lo, who stated he was “deeply inspired by ukiyo-e art—a traditional Japanese style known for its detailed line work and vibrant depictions of everyday life and nature,” has the daunting task of Hokusaizing submitted images and transforming them into stylized works that may include cherry blossoms, mimosa trees, butterflies, and Hanko stamps, those small square seals commonly found on Japanese art.
Every mural included in the “Waves of DuPage County” is a complement to the MAC’s upcoming “Hokusai and Ukiyo-e: The Floating World, Artworks from the Chiossone Collection” exhibition at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art (CCMA), 425 Fawell Boulevard, Glen Ellyn, from May 31 through September 21.
“We are happy to again partner with COD and the MAC in bringing these murals to the City of Naperville as part of our public arts program,” said Dawn Portner, Naperville City Clerk and champion behind the project. “We had such a great response last year with the OLMEC sculptures that we were excited to renew our alliance and show our support for Naperville artist Richard Lo and the high-profile exhibition coming to our region.”
