Koi

Jeremy Novy's Koi (2008–ongoing) were among the first street works I encountered when I moved to San Francisco. The fish appear intermittently on sidewalks around the city, although I usually encounter them as I pass through the Mission district. The Koi, whose sinuous shapes seem to swim slowly through concrete squares of pavement, appear discretely in single iterations and in small groups dispersed around the city. Although Novy began creating the Koi as interventions in the urban environment, they have since been commissioned by several local businesses, such as Lone Star Saloon and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

The culture of small sidewalk interventions in the Mission adds a level of idiosyncrasy and nuance to the neighborhood’s renowned collection of community-based mural projects, such as Clarion Alley, and its individual artist commissions, like Chris Ware’s facade at 826 Valencia Street. The forms of Novy’s Koi are painterly, but their execution and placement have more of an affinity with text-based messages like Rod Roland’s It’s OK to cry here, or angsty activist calls to awareness, such as San Francisco City of the Rich. The murals and activist works alike address an audience that includes, but extends beyond, artists. This accessibility also makes them highly legible DIY interventions.

Viewers observe these life-size stencils from above, which contributes to the illusion that the fish are gliding through water, instead of along the surface of the sidewalk. One recognizes Koi as decorative elements that add to the atmosphere of quiet ornamental spaces like the Japanese Tea Garden. They are out of context in the city, which is marked by the quick steps of passersby; because the Koi are unexpected, viewers often stop or double back in order to assimilate their image into their incongruent surroundings.

Koi, date unknown. Photo: Steve Rotman, August 8, 2009.

This interaction causes viewers to become aware of a space they were simply passing through. Coming upon a Koi by chance shifts the frenetic encounter with an urban environment into a moment of pause and simple enjoyment.  

Koi are on view on sidewalks and at select businesses in San Francisco.

Erin Fletcher enjoys curating independent exhibitions in public venues; most recently this included a photography show on the public transport system in Louisville, Kentucky. As a master’s candidate in the Curatorial Practice program at the California College of the Arts, her current interests include feminist activist art of the 1970s and arguments between Claire Bishop and Grant Kester.