Gallery EXIT is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Yuichi Higashionna in Hong Kong. Higashionna lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. He noticed the fact that the fluorescent lamp in the circular-bulb style has independently spread in its use at Japanese home in general. His works are both homage and a satire, to the Japanese "fluorescent culture" that fascinates him and at the same time makes him uncomfortable. In his own words, his ultimate aim was “to create a fluorescent-lamp monster!”

The dangling light sculptures appear at once grand and beautiful, kitschy and cheap, and are inspired by fanshii (a term derived from the English word 'fancy'), which is reflected in the Japanese compulsive admiration with Western culture during a period of economic prosperity in the 1970s. Fanshii things are said to be odd (in that they are neither Western nor Japanese), kitsch, girlish and tacky. The sculptures serve as chandeliers inspired by interior decorating of Japanese homes of that era, accented with stenciled paintings of flowers and ribbons, nodding to the fluorescent, tacky aesthetic of the time.

The artist explains, “My work frequently incorporates common, everyday things. Living in Japan, I am very familiar with such fanshii things, but I have never liked them. In my opinion there is even something ‘uncanny’ about them, in a Freudian sense. What interests me now is to bring this ‘uncanniness’ into my work in a more positive way, incorporating it in the context of humor or eroticism, rather than representing it straightforwardly.”

Opening reception: Friday, 5 November, 6 – 8 pm
The artist will be present at the opening reception.

Yuichi Higashionna: New Works and Nadim Abbas: Cataract will be held in Gallery EXIT simultaneously.