Photo by Asia Morris.
InterTrend Communications, arguably one of downtown’s most art-savvy communication agencies, wants you to #revealthemonkey in celebration of the Lunar New Year today.
An interactive installation in the form of a red envelope giveaway will unveil world-acclaimed artist James Jean’s Library of the Psychic Temple, the first time the ink-on-paper piece has been presented to the public, and Year of the Monkey, a piece made for today’s worldwide celebration of the Chinese New Year.
As the estimated 2,200 red envelopes are peeled off InterTrend’s ground floor windows, Jean’s work, created for a previous project for the communication agency’s library and Year of the Monkey will be revealed. The public and passersby are invited to take an envelope, not only to participate in the unveiling, but with the hope of receiving one of the few hidden prizes, such as a golden ticket for a rare signed Library of the Psychic Temple print, as well as cash and gift certificates to local eateries.
Image courtesy of InterTrend Communications.
The installation was created by InterTrend’s inhouse creative team through the direction of Brandon Shigeta and Jeff Staple, according to CEO Julia Huang, who each played a role in bringing Long Beach’s inaugural POW!WOW! to fruition.
RELATED
POW! WOW! Lands in Long Beach
“We really wanted the community to be a part of the celebration and designed the unveiling of James Jean’s art to be an interactive process,” said Shigeta. “I think we were successful in that people came to pull the red envelopes for good luck and started to see the artwork behind it.”
The red envelopes, according to Staple’s Instagram post, are steeped in Chinese history. From the Qin Dynasty to the present, red envelopes have symbolized bestowing (often with money inside of them) a bit of luck, protection and good fortune on the traditionally younger and/or single receiver of the gift.
“The idea came from a discussion within the office about holiday decoration for our building last year,” Shigeta continued. “We decided to focus and highlight Lunar New Year. The gifting of red envelopes was the most recognized ritual and provided a nice medium that could serve as a gift, a veil, and an identifiable object of attention.”
After all the envelopes have been taken, Year of the Monkey will be on display for two weeks, while the Library of the Psychic Temple will remain for several months. So head on over to InterTrend to grab an envelope (if any are left to grab), or at the least, check out Jean’s always jaw-droppingly exquisite work.
Photo by Asia Morris.
InterTrend is located at 228 East Broadway.