Damsgård mural
About the mural
A picture scroll: The 18th century, Norwegian Damsgård mansion duck pond stretches as a wild stream – from fjords to tropical landscapes – along Manhattan´s east river.The mural was commissioned by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) Barrier Beautification Project, painted with the aid of New York Cares. The design originates from a series of works that explore the Asian picture scroll and the coastal landscapes of west Norway. This particular motif site-source is the 18th century Damsgård mansion duck pond in Bergen, imagined in open wilderness. Painted along the FDR Service Road, between the 25th and 27th street on east Manhattan, the road barriers functioned as a “scroll-viewing template” for traffic passing by.
Designed and realized in collaboration with Miho Shimizu, the mural is adapted from Øyvind Renberg’s duck paintings, a group of works imagining animals as “actors” in dramatic storylines.
Damsgård duck paintings by Øyvind Renberg, watercolor and airbrush on paper, 200x110 cm, 2012
Damsgård mural, detail, FDR road, NYC, 2013
Versions
Damsgård, KARST Contemporary Arts, Plymouth, UK, 2012
Volda, Norway, 2016