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LADY AIKO

ABOUT THE ARTIST

“During the summer of 2020, Larry Silverstein and Dara McQuillan invited me to come and paint on the top floor of the recently opened 3 World Trade Center,” remembers renowned street artist Lady Aiko. Aiko calls the resulting mural - over 60 feet long - ”one of the most memorable productions in my life as an artist.”


Created during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the entire city was shut down and ghostly empty, Aiko’s mural tells the story of the New York City she came to know and love beginning in the late 1990s.


Aiko moved to NYC after finishing art school in Tokyo. “I started new adventures without knowing anyone or anything,” she recalls. “My English was terrible, and it was difficult to communicate with people at the time, I really struggled.” But creating art imbued Aiko with strength and determination, and it wasn’t long before she was working alongside famed artists such as Takashi Murakami, Banksy, and Shepard Fairey.


“It was a happy, happy time in New York City,” Aiko says, and she created her mural at 3 World Trade Center to capture “the energy and vibrancy of the city and its people.” Aiko transformed an enormous, empty wall at the top of 3 WTC into a vivid cityscape in her signature style. Flowers, fast food, and classic NYC signage festoon Aiko’s bright and brilliant mural, making it a way for visitors to experience the hustle and bustle of a less-complicated city 80 stories above the ground.


In the painstaking process of creating “Love Letter to New York,” Aiko was able to find that energy and vibrancy in herself once again after the stress, fear, and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. “After spending many productive days completing this massive piece alone, I felt my soul becoming stronger and much bolder, and I feel very positive now,” said Aiko. “I hope I can share this energy with everyone,” she says. “That's my ultimate goal as an artist working in a public environment.”

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