Dwi Wanna
Introduction: A Vision Emerges
In the high-stakes, imaginative landscape of the Baton Rouge Gallery’s Surreal Salon 18, one installation stood apart for its ability to command both silence and awe. Surface Tension, a haunting, luminous sculpture by multidisciplinary artist River Reishi, was recently awarded "Best in Show" by guest juror and visionary artist Caledonia Curry—better known to the world as Swoon.
The piece, which features a figure suspended in the precarious moment of emerging from dark water, serves as a masterclass in ephemeral art. It is a work that breathes, glowing faintly from within and surrounded by an intricate, hand-drawn field of black sand and amber. For Reishi, the accolade represents more than just a professional milestone; it is a validation of a practice rooted in the fragile, the temporary, and the mythic.
Chronology of a Surreal Win
The journey to Surreal Salon 18 was, for Reishi, a convergence of geography and artistic evolution. While she has long been a fixture within the pop-surrealist community, this year marked her first opportunity to live near enough to the gallery to engage with the exhibition in person.
The Surreal Salon has cultivated a reputation as an unofficial, avant-garde kickoff to the Mardi Gras season—a high-energy, costume-heavy affair where the boundaries between the gallery wall and the audience blur. When Reishi arrived to install Surface Tension, she was struck by the caliber of her peers. "When I arrived to install the piece and saw the other works for the first time," Reishi reflects, "I remember thinking how haunting and memorable every single one was. So hearing the piece announced as Best in Show later that night felt surreal in the truest sense."
The evening reached a fever pitch of creative synergy when an attendee approached Reishi, revealing a costume he had meticulously designed based on her sculpture. It was a moment of profound realization: the artwork had effectively escaped the pedestal and integrated itself into the living, breathing environment of the gallery floor.
The Philosophy of the Ephemeral: Process and Materials
To understand Reishi’s work, one must first understand her constraints. Her practice is defined by a lack of permanent studio space, a limitation she has transformed into a core aesthetic tenet. By working with sand, modular sculptural elements, and light, Reishi creates installations that are designed to exist only for the duration of an exhibition.
The Significance of Sand and Amber
The black sand used in Surface Tension is not merely a material; it is a narrative tool. Hand-drawn into intricate patterns, the sand is subject to the slightest vibration—a fact made clear during the opening night when a spectator accidentally nudged the platform. While some might view the disruption of a work as a disaster, Reishi saw it as a revelation.
"The installation only existed in that exact form on that particular night," she notes. As she sat on the gallery floor, repairing the patterns while onlookers watched, the performative nature of the work became clear. It is a testament to the "fragility and transformation" that define her career. By utilizing materials that cannot stay fixed, she forces the viewer to confront the impermanence of the present moment.
The Juror’s Choice: Influence and Inspiration
The selection of Caledonia Curry (Swoon) as the juror for Surreal Salon 18 brought a specific level of gravitas to the competition. For Reishi, the choice was deeply personal. Having followed Swoon’s career since her 2009 Swimming Cities of Serenissima project—where the artist famously navigated sculptural rafts into the Venice Biennale without traditional institutional permission—Reishi found a kindred spirit in the juror’s approach to art.
Breaking Institutional Barriers
"It is difficult to break into the art world, especially in spaces where voice is carefully selected and curated," Reishi explains. "Seeing an artist carve out space for herself so creatively was incredibly inspiring." This theme of "not asking for permission" has become a guiding principle for Reishi’s own work. As a woman navigating an industry that historically marginalized feminine voices, she views the act of artistic creation as a radical assertion of presence.
This connection is further cemented by their shared interest in myth-building. Just as Swoon has developed the Sibylant Sisters project, creating a living mythology through oracle cards and visual narrative, Reishi’s sculptures are built on the foundations of ancient storytelling. The encounter between these two artists at the Surreal Salon was not merely a judging process; it was an intersection of two creators who use art to build worlds that the public can physically enter.
Global Implications: From the Gulf to Iceland
Reishi’s trajectory shows no signs of slowing down. This summer, she is set to embark on a residency at the Raf Gallery in Reykjavik, Iceland, coinciding with a rare total solar eclipse on August 12.
The choice of location is deeply intentional. The black sand that has become a signature of her installations was inspired by the volcanic beaches of Reynisfjara. In Reykjavik, she plans to merge the myth of the birth of Baltic amber with eclipse mythology, creating an installation that reflects on the dualities of darkness and light. True to her philosophy, the project will culminate in a communal act: the public will be invited to help dismantle the installation and return the sand to the ocean with personal intentions, transforming the gallery space into a site of collective ritual.
Institutional vs. Alternative Spaces
When asked where she feels most comfortable as a maker, Reishi defies categorization. Her work has appeared in everything from high-end museums and galleries to city halls and abandoned storefronts. Yet, her heart remains at the edge of the water.
Recalling her time in Washington State, she speaks of building temporary altars of driftwood and shells with friends—offerings to the tide. These moments, where the ocean eventually claims the art, remain her most "comfortable" venue. It is an acknowledgment that art does not need to be owned or preserved to be significant; it only needs to be witnessed.
Conclusion: The Voice of the Maker
The success of Surface Tension at Surreal Salon 18 is a marker of a broader shift in the art world toward works that prioritize human connection, vulnerability, and the reclamation of space. River Reishi’s work does not ask the viewer to passively observe; it asks them to step into a threshold, to acknowledge the tension between the world we know and the depths that lie beneath.
As she prepares for her upcoming work in Iceland, Reishi carries with her the lessons of her recent win: that art is most powerful when it is daring, when it is fleeting, and when it is created with the audacity to speak without asking for permission. Whether in a gallery in Baton Rouge or on a volcanic beach in the North Atlantic, Reishi is carving out a space for myth, grief, and the undeniable beauty of the temporary.
For more on River Reishi’s upcoming installations and her current body of work, visit riverreishi.com or follow her journey on Instagram @riverreishi.
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