We first introduced you to Sam Wilde’s surreal world in 2022, and we are delighted to update you on some of his most recent interactive and thought-provoking patterned projects in England, Japan, and China. The Victoria & Albert Museum commissioned Sam to create a breathing patterned sculpture for the Young V & A, which is a branch of the museum dedicated to educating and entertaining younger audiences.
Sam, with help from his partner Naing Lin Oo, built a fictional ocean-dwelling creature the “Deepstaria Umbra” out of lost and found umbrellas and a windshield wiper motor. Six hand-painted and patterned umbrellas were joined into a sphere shape that hangs from the ceiling of the museum, delighting kids and inspiring adults to consider their environment and existentialism.
A second project of Sam’s, “Equi” took place in Kobe, Japan and was inspired by Yayoi Kusama and M.C. Escher. The first one thousand visitors to the exhibition received a unique Frog Tessellation sticker and art print. Visitors were encouraged to place their stickers anywhere they wanted on the gallery walls, allowing the fine art pattern to emerge organically through their collective participation. Theoretically, participants could have prioritized combined grouping by sticking all one thousand stickers in perfectly aligned unity. Conversely, individual expression could have taken precedence, resulting in all one thousand stickers being stuck in chaotic disarray. In Equi- there was no “correct” or “incorrect” way to contribute to the collective whole. This exhibition was made possible by AiRK – Artist in Residence Kobe and DAIWA.
Sam also collaborated with the municipals of Wuhan and Taiyuan, China to create a series of street art sculptures themed around the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In the Cat’s Charade, he worked with large-scale inflatables and maximally patterned murals containing familiar and unfamiliar motifs that create a sense of delirium for visitors. The cat appears and disappears throughout the cities.
Loving it right?!? Reach out to Sam here.
