Preview: Yoshitomo Nara’s “Greetings from a Place in My Heart” at Dairy Art Centre

Earlier this year, Blum & Poe gallery in Los Angeles brought us never before seen works by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara (covered here). The show was critically acclaimed for his introduction of new materials, including large scale bronze busts and environmentally-friendly installations. Alongside some of these same peices, he will debut a new series "Greetings from a Place in My Heart", opening tonight at Dairy Art Centre in London. Nara will also host a rare artist talk about the exhibit, notably the largest retrospective of his drawings, paintings, and sculpture spanning 30 years.

Earlier this year, Blum & Poe gallery in Los Angeles brought us never before seen works by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara (covered here). The show was critically acclaimed for his introduction of new materials, including large scale bronze busts and environmentally-friendly installations. Alongside some of these same peices, he will debut a new series “Greetings from a Place in My Heart”, opening tonight at Dairy Art Centre in London.

Nara will also host a rare artist talk about the exhibit, notably the largest retrospective of his drawings, paintings, and sculpture spanning 30 years. He brings them together for the first time in bolder and more luminescent layers of paper than before.The roughly 200 sketches offer both insight into the artist’s process and a glimpse into his future as he develops creatively in post-war Japan. These cultural influences range from Japanese manga and Western painting practice to his signature themes, like folk and rock music. Nara’s art has long represented children’s imaginations, adult problems, and our rebellion against the modern world. As society and pop culture changes, so do the issues he addresses in his imagery, constantly forming his artistic expression.

Yoshitomo Nara’s “Greetings from a Place in My Heart” opens on October 2nd at Dairy Art Centre in London. The exhibition will tour to ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark in October 2015.

Topics

Blum and Poe, Japanese art, Retrospective, Yoshitomo Nara

graffiti, Gundam, Japanese art, Mizumi Gallery, Tenmyouya Hisashi

November 7, 2014

These works by Japanese artist Tenmyouya Hisashi represent uniquely Japanese aesthetics, mixed with modern, vulgar depictions of sub-culture icons. His paintings of vehicles and Gundam samurai on gold leaf are only a few characters he's refashioned in the styles of his predecessors. By combining traditional Japanese symbols, his paintings have a spirit that is old and contemporary at the same time.

Preview: “Belle” Junko Mizuno Retrospective at Atomica Gallery

atomica gallery, Belle, Junko Mizuno, painting, Retrospective

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Demonic goddesses and amorphous love children dominate the compositions by Japanese-born, San Francisco-based artist Junko Mizuno (featured on the cover of HF Vol. 23). Mizuno has an expansive oeuvre, which spans such media as graphic novels and television animation. Her original paintings, in addition to wood, giclee and silkscreen prints, will for the first time be seen in London during the artist’s retrospective, "Belle: The Art of Junko Mizuno," opening October 20 at Atomica Gallery.

Studio Visit: Stephanie Inagaki Shares Her Ghostly Charcoal Drawings

Collage, Japanese art, Stephanie Inagaki

January 29, 2016

Japanese artist Stephanie Inagaki's black and white charcoal drawings depict female figures that are not only an embodiment of her roots, but also of herself as an artist and a woman. For the past couple of years, she has been incorporating the Japanese ghost folklore and mythology of her culture into what she describes as "pillars of inspiration"; tall, bold, creative women, often self-portraits, that represent the well rounded woman Inagaki aspires to be. Previously featured on our blog, she likens the figures in her drawings to the Creation and Destruction goddesses like Kali from India or Izanami from Japan, and there is generally an underlying theme of life and death throughout. Inagaki invited Hi-Fructose into her new studio in Los Angeles to give us a preview and tell us more about the direction of where her work is going.

On View: “Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty” at JANM

Hello Kitty, Japanese American National Museum, Japanese art, Japanese Pop Culture

October 31, 2014

Hello Kitty mania has hit Los Angeles. On view in conjuction with Hello Kitty Con, which opened yesterday, is her "Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty" 40th anniversary exhibit at Japanese American National Museum (JANM). The show is curated by Christine Yano, author of Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific, and Jamie Rivadeneira, founder of JapanLA. Attendees are led through a retrospective that highlights the history and development of Hello Kitty as a cultural icon, before they arrive to the art exhibition, a modern interpretation of this famous character.

Preview: Yoshitomo Nara’s “Greetings from a Place in My Heart” at Dairy Art Centre

Tenmyouya Hisashi’s Sub-culture Icons with a Japanese Aesthetic

Preview: “Belle” Junko Mizuno Retrospective at Atomica Gallery

Studio Visit: Stephanie Inagaki Shares Her Ghostly Charcoal Drawings

On View: “Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty” at JANM

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