If you’ve taken a stroll through Capitol Hill, Columbia City, or Seward Park, or even made your way to Los Angeles, you’ve likely encountered the vibrant dragon sculptures adorning telephone poles—complete with glimmering, reflective CD faces.
These distinct creations emerge from the imaginative mind of the pseudonymous artist known as Sea DragonSSS, whose work is laced with an air of mystery and fascinating backstories linked to time travel.
The artist, who identifies as Eddie after his signature dragon character, sat down with CHS to share the tale of his transformation from a lesser-known musician to a street artist, highlighting a path littered with challenges, installation mishaps, and a bold vision to animate his fantastical dragon universe.
**FROM MUSICAL DREAMS TO STREET ART**
Before the streets of Seattle were graced with colorful dragons, Sea DragonSSS was an experimental musician struggling to find his footing.
“I started as a musician. Was playing music in the 90s, mostly noise, not very popular stuff. Got some grants along the way to put out CDs. I also was a filmmaker too. CDs and DVDs of my work, none of them sold. Well, I shouldn’t say none of them, but not very many of them,” Eddie reminisced.
Faced with a backlog of unsold discs, Eddie seized an opportunity to transform his works into something new.
“About 10 years ago, 2014, just ad hoc, [I decided] to turn what I had into a mobile sculpture, only four of them in the initial batch.”
These first four eclectic installations found homes in various locations—Seward Park, a dog park on Genesee, Blick Art Materials on Pine Street, and another park in South Seattle—but met with mixed fates.
“The very first one in Seward Park stayed up quite a while. I found one by the park torn down and thrown in a dumpster with a bag of dog shit on top of it. And then the one at Blick. It was two pieces, and it looked, after about a week, that some drunk people had swung off of the lower piece and fallen and broke the thing in half.”
**THE BIRTH OF A DRAGON UNIVERSE**
Initially, the sculptures maintained an abstract form, akin to Alexander Calder’s mobiles but with a psychedelic twist that Eddie himself describes.
“The very first ones I was going for Calder on acid, with bright colors and some reflective CDs and stuff like that on it.”
However, a significant shift occurred when he installed a piece in front of Dick’s Drive-In on Broadway, infusing life into his abstract creations.
“I put one up in front of the Dicks on Broadway. And I was like, oh, you know that should have a mouth and stuff like that. And so that one of the more figurative ones that I put up.”
From this pivotal moment, a narrative began to unfold. The sculptures evolved into characters, merging into a quirky tale: Eddie, the awkward yet relatable protagonist; Queen Angeline, the wise elder; and a cast of princes along with the antagonistic King Dotard, who rules from a regal golden throne.
“Eddie, who’s kind of the nerd. He wouldn’t really be the narrator. He’s kind of like, you’re the principal character, but he’s a time traveling dragon that can’t time travel. But then we’ve got, Queen Angeline, who’s kind of like the elder figure, who recruits a couple of these princes, Prince Andy and Prince Alexander who were bestowed time traveling capabilities to save the world from the Evil King Gotard.”
**INSTALLATION CHALLENGES AND RISKS**
Though the creative process was rewarding, installing these sculptures posed significant challenges.
“I wasn’t using a very good ladder. I had borrowed a, essentially a broken eight foot ladder from a friend… Got up to that very top step that says this is not a step, you know. And I’ve done that many, many times before and even gotten to my tippy toes… Lost my concentration. Fell over, and, you know, bam, hit the pavement pretty hard.”
The mishap resulted in a broken arm and a follow-up conversation with his family that morning.
“I had to make an agreement with my family that, you know, because they woke up that morning at 7am to a very long text from me. ‘Hi, I’m in the ER, I’m parked in a no parking zone, if you can get here before 8am then I won’t get towed. I’m all right. I’ll probably need a ride home too.”
**LOS ANGELES: A CITY FOR DRAGONS**
Seattle’s rainy weather often limited his installations, pushing Eddie to seek opportunities further afield, particularly in Los Angeles.
“Seattle being the relative size that it was… I’m effectively shut down from November through March. You know, it’s just, you know, the weather just kind of puts a big damper on it. So, you know, it was opportunity in the winter to go there… LA, you’ve got lots of sun, um, they also have lots of wooden poles… it’s kind of anything goes, as far as people just throw junk around everywhere there. Putting this up is actually, you know, beautifying.”
**LOOKING FORWARD: ANIMATION AND SUPPORT**
Eddie’s ambitions extend beyond street installations. He’s venturing into animation and has begun forming a company to represent his work.
“I’ve done some proof of concept of animating these… we’ll introduce the characters in just short form, tick tock videos… I formed an LLC beginning of January, yeah, for the purpose to sell some merch.”
Nevertheless, his primary hope remains for Seattle to continue hosting his artistic endeavors in a legal manner.
“Public statements of support could be cool… if you look at Seattle Municipal Code, what I’m doing is totally legal. I’d like that that stays legal in Seattle.”
To explore more about Eddie’s creative journey, visit seadragonsss.com.
image source from：capitolhillseattle
