The Man Behind The Mural.

Rising Red Lotus: the man, the myth, the legend.

We often receive questions about our commissioned dragon mural created by the mysterious and elusive tagger-turned-artist Rising Red Lotus, so we compiled a list of FAQs and answers, all in one handy place. Read up so you can impress your artsy friends the next time you bring them to Dragon Bowl…

 

 

Who is the artist?

Rising Red Lotus AKA Lean One AKA Brandon Sadler is a native ATLien and multi-disciplinary visual artist, calligrapher, film director and writer. He earned his BFA in Painting and Illustration from SCAD Atlanta. His work can be seen along the Beltline, local galleries, Emory’s Super Giant Community Garden, even on the walls of our web designer’s office, and many other hot spots in the city.

 

Where does he pull his inspiration?

Sadler’s aesthetic pulls from his roots in American graffiti and interest in Asian arts. With a mother who worked as an art teacher, Sadler was raised in an artistic environment. He was always into martial arts and Kung Fu movies, and at one point, lived in Korea. The influences of Japanese woodblock prints, Anime, Chinese calligraphy and other Asian art forms have impacted his cultural perspective and greatly influenced his unique style.

 

 

What’s the significance of the dragon mural?

The mural inside Dragon Bowl depicts a guardian dragon who watches over guests.

“Dragons always protect something and in some Asian stories they grant wishes, so in the image I positioned him like he’s protecting the bowl of noodles but also with the presence of a genie who would grant you wishes. Over all I wanted the space to feel powerful and fiery, but slightly magical with a sense of spice from the food.”

This fierce and benevolent dragon gets his power and strength from noodles, Sriracha and acts of kindness. Rumor has it, students who stare deep into the dragon’s abyssal eyes before exams will receive the dragon’s blessing of good luck.

 

 

What does the Chinese writing mean?

Sadler created his own complex letter system based on the English alphabet but designed to look like the Chinese character system. Take another look at those Chinese words, and you’ll see the real words appear: “Dragon Bowl”, “Noodles”, and an homage to our Doc Chey’s roots, “Peace Love Noodles”.

Sadler’s writing system has three styles: tiger, mantis, snake.  For Dragon Bowl’s mural, Sadler says the writing “is all Tiger style. I used that because it’s bold and fiery which relates directly with the image of the dragon, and the flavors of the menu.”

 

 

What’s the red flower?

Sadler’s iconic red lotus is branded on all this masterpieces. Look for the red lotus marking his work around town.

 

 

To learn more, visit www.risingredlotus.com.