AJ Fosik
A frequent traveller to Japan, curator Matt Wagner of Portland’s Hellion Gallery recently connected AJ Fosik (Hi-Fructose Vol. 18 cover artist) with 13 Tokyo-based artists for a collaborative exhibition. Titled “Beast From a Foreign Land,” the show makes one stop and think about how small the world’s creative community truly feels in the age of communication technology. The 13 Japanese artists, including Usugrow, Iamone, Ryuichi Ogino, Tadaomi Shibuya and Koichiro Takagi, each received an unfinished Fosik sculpture (foreign beast, indeed!) that they could take apart and repurpose through their own styles. While Fosik is known for wildly-adorned wooden sculptures with a flamboyant, heavy-metal appeal, the artists reworked his figures in ways that diverged greatly from their original creator’s aesthetic, incorporating minimalism, calligraphy, farcical humor, found objects and any combination of these and other elements. “Beast From a Foreign Land” is on view at HPGRP Gallery in Tokyo through May 11.
AJ Fosik
Tadaomi Shibuya
Imaone
Koichiro Takagi
Ryuichi Ogino