Between Worlds: River Reishi on Fragility, Myth, and Winning Surreal Salon 18

The art world often celebrates the permanent, the monumental, and the indestructible. Yet, at the Baton Rouge Gallery’s recent Surreal Salon 18, the top prize went to a work defined by its own imminent disappearance. River Reishi, a multidisciplinary artist whose practice bridges the gap between sculpture and ephemeral installation, was named Best in Show by guest juror and visionary artist Caledonia Curry, better known as Swoon.

Reishi’s winning piece, Surface Tension, is a haunting meditation on the thresholds of existence. Through a synthesis of light, hand-drawn black sand, and amber, Reishi explores the precarious boundary between the known world and the mysterious, often dangerous, depths of the unconscious. Her victory at Surreal Salon marks a significant milestone in a career defined by an unapologetic, albeit fragile, sense of audacity.

The Genesis of Surface Tension

At the core of Reishi’s winning installation is a figure emerging from dark water—a physical manifestation of the moment a soul or entity crosses from the fluid, hidden realm into our own.

“The piece shows a figure emerging from dark water, her hands reaching forward as if she is about to break through the surface,” Reishi explains. “She is half-submerged, suspended in that strange moment between two realms. Around her is an ephemeral field of black sand and amber.”

The physical presence of the piece is deceptively simple. While it appears still to the casual observer, it is engineered to invite intimacy. The sculpture glows faintly from within, a detail that requires the viewer to approach and linger. This "quiet surprise" is a hallmark of Reishi’s work, which demands a slowing of time.

For the artist, the choice of materials is deeply rooted in the geography of the Gulf region. “Water is often a symbol of life, but it also carries danger and power. Louisiana and the Gulf region know that reality very well. I think some of that tension found its way into the work,” she notes. The use of loose black sand—meticulously drawn by hand into intricate patterns—serves as a metaphor for the impermanence of human structures. Because the installation is sensitive to even the smallest vibrations, it is an entity that exists in a constant state of potential transition.

A Chronology of Artistic Evolution

River Reishi’s path to the Surreal Salon was not a linear progression of traditional gallery shows, but rather an evolution shaped by practical constraints. Early in her career, lacking the luxury of a expansive studio space, Reishi was forced to innovate. She began to focus on modular, portable sculptural elements and materials that could be deployed, admired, and then dismantled.

“In many ways, my practice grew out of practical constraints,” Reishi reflects. “For a long time, I did not have a large studio, so I had to find ways of making work that could expand into a space temporarily and then disappear again. Over time, those limitations became part of the language of the work itself.”

This trajectory led her to the Surreal Salon, an event she had tracked from afar for years. Known within the pop-surrealist community as a vibrant, unconventional kickoff to the Mardi Gras season, the event offered a unique stage for her work. Upon arriving in Baton Rouge to install Surface Tension, Reishi found herself intimidated by the caliber of her peers.

“When I arrived to install the piece and saw the other works for the first time, I remember thinking how haunting and memorable every single one was,” she admits. “So hearing the piece announced as Best in Show later that night felt surreal in the truest sense.”

The Influence of the Juror: The Swoon Effect

The selection of Caledonia Curry (Swoon) as the juror for Surreal Salon 18 brought a specific gravitas to the competition. For Reishi, whose work is heavily influenced by the intersections of public intervention and mythological storytelling, the validation from an artist of Swoon’s stature was profound.

Reishi cites Swoon’s 2009 Swimming Cities of Serenissima project—a fleet of sculptural, hand-built rafts navigated into the Venice Biennale—as a foundational influence. “The act of arriving that way, without waiting for institutional permission, became part of the artwork itself,” Reishi says. “That kind of boldness has always stayed with me. It is difficult to break into the art world, especially in spaces where voice is carefully selected and curated.”

This sense of "audacity" is central to Reishi’s identity as an artist. She views the development of her own voice through a gendered lens, noting that for women, the act of creating art is often an act of defiance. “Voice is an interesting concept to me as a woman, because women often face particular obstacles when it comes to the emergence of voice. It takes a certain measure of audacity to say something and commit it to art.”

The Philosophy of Impermanence

One of the most telling moments of Surreal Salon 18 occurred when an attendee accidentally stumbled into the platform holding Reishi’s installation. The vibration caused the meticulously drawn sand patterns to shift and blur. While the event was an accident, it served as a revelation for the audience.

“Some people had assumed the sand had been glued down or painted in place,” Reishi says. “When it shifted, it suddenly became clear that the entire surface was loose and hand-drawn. I sat beside the piece and carefully repaired it, re-drawing the patterns into the sand and amber while people watched.”

This accidental interaction underscored the core of Reishi’s philosophy: the work is not a static object to be guarded, but a living process. This belief in the beauty of the temporary extends to her upcoming projects. This August, Reishi will be in Reykjavik, Iceland, for an exhibition at the Raf Gallery. The timing is deliberate, coinciding with a rare total solar eclipse on August 12.

In Iceland, she plans to bridge the gap between myth and celestial event. She will utilize sand from the local shoreline to install a piece that reflects the birth of Baltic amber and the relationship between darkness and light. True to her process, the installation will end with a communal dismantling. “At the end of the exhibition, I invite the community to dismantle the installation with me. We carry the sand back to the ocean and return it with a wish, prayer, or intention.”

Implications for Contemporary Sculpture

The success of Surface Tension at Surreal Salon 18 speaks to a shifting appetite in the art world. As collectors and institutions increasingly seek out experiences rather than mere commodities, artists like Reishi are finding resonance. Her work—which exists in the "thresholds" of space and time—challenges the traditional model of the gallery.

By moving between museums, city halls, and the open beach, Reishi is effectively dismantling the "ivory tower" approach to high art. Her recent visit to the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City, where she was profoundly moved by Mayan figurative ceramics, further informs her commitment to the "spirit" of an object. For Reishi, the goal is not to produce a product that lasts forever, but to create a container for a moment that lingers long after the physical materials have been swept away.

As the arts community looks toward the future, the lessons provided by Reishi’s Surreal Salon win are clear: art is at its most powerful when it is vulnerable. Whether it is a sand installation on a beach or a glowing figure emerging from a pool of darkness, the most enduring works are those that embrace their own fragility.

For those interested in following her journey, Reishi continues to push the boundaries of her craft, proving that even in a world obsessed with permanence, there is profound power in the ephemeral. Her upcoming work in Reykjavik promises to be another testament to the beauty of things that cannot be fixed, but must be felt.