Don Ed Hardy’s ‘2000 Dragons’ on display at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral

[Episcopal News Service] San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral is exhibiting “2000 Dragons,” a two-sided 4 foot-by- 500 foot artwork with 2,000 unique dragons painted onto a scroll made of Tyvek. The project was a massive undertaking for its artist, Don Ed Hardy.

Hardy is a now-retired tattoo artist who’s the namesake of the Ed Hardy apparel and accessories brand that gained global popularity in the early 2000s. Even though Hardy is best known for his tattoo career and for founding Tattoo City in San Francisco, California, where his son Doug Hardy now works, his passion for art started in painting, drawing and printmaking.

“I see Hardy as kind of an Andy Warhol type of figure, someone who really brought a popular and sometimes considered banal style of artwork to a wider audience,” the Rev. Gregory Kimura, rector of St. James’ Episcopal Church in South Pasadena, told Episcopal News Service. 

Kimura was vice dean of Grace Cathedral when he collaborated with Francesca Passalacqua – Hardy’s wife – and Takahiro Kitamura, owner of State of Grace Tattoo in nearby San Jose’s Japantown, to exhibit “2000 Dragons,” which will be on display at Grace Cathedral until May 27. Admission is $12.

Kimura, who previously served as president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, wanted Grace Cathedral to display an artwork that would reflect the San Francisco Bay area’s uniqueness, a place where Asian Americans make up the largest minority group.

“I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to have [‘2000 Dragons’] up during the consecration of the [Diocese of California’s] new bishop. [The Rt. Rev.] Austin Rios was consecrated during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. …I was really thrilled to see this art up in this place,” Kimura said.

Hardy conceived the idea to create “2000 Dragons” in 1976, a Year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac, which in 12-year intervals names each new year after an animal in an established order. Hardy didn’t start the project until New Year’s Day 2000, the start of the new millennium and another dragon year. Every day until he finished the project in July, he painted the dragons on 3 feet of fresh Tyvek – a brand of synthetic fiber that’s wrapped around buildings for protection during construction and remodeling – using acrylic paint with no prior planning or sketching. He never corrected any of the dragons once dried. To keep track of progress, Hardy numbered each dragon he painted into a journal and recorded the length and time spent, as well as the music he listened to and random thoughts he had while working. He also took Polaroid photos of each segment and posted them on his studio wall for reference. Hardy saw the final product in its entirety for the first time when it was scrolled out for its debut exhibition in October 2000 at the Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica.

“Ed took the plunge and worked in this little studio in the garage behind our house. He couldn’t see more than 3 feet at a time, but he had no hesitation,” Passalacqua told ENS. “With the way ‘2000 Dragons’ is set up at Grace Cathedral, I think it’s really important to take your time looking at each dragon and try to imagine how he accomplished this work. There’s a 30-foot dragon, but some of the dragons are tiny, like maybe an inch or smaller. They’re all very different. I wouldn’t isolate one thing.”

In medieval Christian mythology, St. George, the patron saint of England, slayed a dragon that was extorting a village for its livestock and children. Dragons are also mentioned throughout the Old and New Testaments. In Asian mythologies, dragons are usually portrayed as benevolent and wise creatures and a symbol of perseverance and protection. They’re revered in Buddhism and often appear in Buddhist art, mythology and scripture.

Western dragons are depicted as having wings, two arms and reptilian legs. Eastern dragons, however, have serpentine bodies and are wingless. “2000 Dragons” incorporates both Eastern and Western dragons, as well as dragons from other mythologies, including Latin American depictions.

“The whole point is dragon culture is everywhere,” Kitamura, who specializes in irezumi, Japanese tattoo art, told ENS.

Kitamura and his wife, Molly, now own Hardy’s book publishing company, Hardy Marks Publications. He said he credits the publication’s “Tattootime” magazine from the 1980s with educating him about notable Japanese artists of the time, including Horiyoshi III, whom he apprenticed with for a decade.

In 1973, Hardy became among the first gaijin, or foreigner in Japan, to study tattooing in the country by invitation from classical tattoo master Horihide. Hardy later began incorporating irezumi into Western tattoo styles, which formed into his signature aesthetic. Hardy is credited with giving irezumi global exposure, though it’s ironically stigmatized in Japan because of its association with the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia.

Kitamura and Kimura both said Hardy has been accused of cultural appropriation, but Japanese tattoo artists are the first to disagree. Instead, they said, Hardy falls under the cultural appreciation category.

The exhibit itself should be understood within context, Kitamura said. “… we need to do our job of putting in the cultural context of everything, like how this exhibition at the cathedral was started by two Japanese Americans. [Hardy’s] always been respectful of Japanese culture and has worked to amplify underrepresented voices in the tattoo world.”

“[Hardy] really is a person who went over to do the research and to learn,” Kimura said. “I see him in the lineage of impressionist painters, like Monet and Van Gogh, who were inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e art prints.”

Hardy, who has late-stage dementia, doesn’t remember working on “2000 Dragons,” but he enjoyed looking at it when Passalacqua took him to Grace Cathedral last month for the exhibit’s opening and again last week.

“Just watching his face, he was looking at his art with complete awe and delight and pointing out specific things that I explained to him,” she said. “He said, ‘Oh wow. I did that?’”

Kitamura said he had never visited Grace Cathedral before until he spoke at Kimura’s installation as vice dean in 2023, but he’s impressed by its art collection and the building’s structure, particularly the AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel and the bronze altarpiece that serves as its focal point, Keith Haring’s “The Life of Christ.”

“This place is gorgeous, and it’s obviously a very forward-thinking church,” he said. “There’s a certain comfort in a museum, but there’s also a bit of sterility. You don’t get the same sacred feeling as you get in a church, and that’s certainly amplified at Grace Cathedral. Everyone there really did a beautiful job of honoring Ed with the ‘2000 Dragons’ installation.”

Passalacqua said she and Hardy aren’t religious, but they had a connection with Grace Cathedral before the art installation. In 1966, Doug Hardy was baptized at the cathedral.

“It’s a very nice completion of a circle,” Kimura said.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service based in northern Indiana. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.