Mermaid Tails at the Laundromat

New-York-based Olivia Erlanger is the artist and curator behind Ida 2019, an installation first conceived for a Los Angeles laundromat in 2018. Erlanger created the work to “reimagine mermaid fantasies.” The work consists of life-size mermaid tails covered in scales, with bifurcated fins in yellow and pink, hanging from laundry machines.

At the L.A. laundromat, “customers have been coming into the laundromat, not knowing to expect the art pieces, and reacting with curiosity, surprise, and delight,” Erlanger said at the time.

Since then, the work has appeared in art fairs and galleries, including at Ly Los Angeles (pictured above).

Olivia Erlanger has shown internationally at Motherculture, Human Resources, AND NOW, Pilar Corrias, and Mathew Gallery. She received the inaugural BMW Open Work Frieze Prize in 2017. Erlanger was a visiting artist and lecturer at Brown University, Sci Arc, and the Architectural Association.

Olivia Erlanger’s website, here.