Leeahn gallery presents a solo exhibition of Mr. (1969 ~ ) who attractions attention as the next generation leader of Japanese contemporary art from 19th to 25th December.
Mr. who connects the pedigree of Japan-pop represents contemporary Japanese society such as Otaku culture and Lolita complex of contemporary Japanese who adhere to animation or manga in his work.
Mr. who began to let the contemporary art world know himself by hand drawing in a form of animation on the back side of ordinary receipts you receive after purchasing goods everyday and by gathering and exhibiting them has been creating art world of his own only with peculiar character and color of pop-art. Drawings of Mr. the boys and girls with big eyes and dark hair and innocent faces appear reflect influences of Japanese pop and animation with flat surface look color and character of peculiar style. And the peculiar form which grafts drawing of animation style onto pop art and which represents Japanese pop including Murakami now becomes one style which cannot be left out by not to mention Murakami, young artists who succeed him and Japanese contemporary art.
The works of Mr. which reflect various culture symbols and codes in multi-layers is paying attention to subculture which is inherent in the inside of Japanese contemporary society and is dealing with it as a portrait of contemporary time. I can see that the world of the work of Mr. which is our appearance today and portrait of contemporary Japanese society deals with Lolita complex and Otaku culture profoundly. The character which appears in the work of the artist, Mr. who explores persistently our portraits today with popular and typical visual language and at the same time draws genuine ideal world is Lolita-esque (arose from a novel of the novelist from Russia Vladimir Nabokov ‘Lolita’ and tells about sexual curiosity or attraction which an adult man has on immature girl). It is implying Otaku culture which began to be generated in Japan in 1970’s by the men who are addicted to emotion and animation, science fiction and video game.
Mr. Graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Sokei Art School in Tokyo, 1996. Since the year 1995 he has been active as a major artist belonging to art organization of Takashi Murakami, KaiKai KiKi. His works are possessed by art museums of the US and Europe and numerous private collectors, and in 2006 were invited to Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon together with Aya Takano and Chiho Aoshima. Mr. exhibition in LEEAHN Gallery is the first solo exhibition in Korea and is prepared in the largest scale exhibition as a gallery show and it will be a precious opportunity for you to see the world of works of the artist on the whole, drawing, prints, photograph including the painting with 6 meters long, in addition to a large sculpture work ‘Strawberry Voice’ and video ‘Nobody Dies’. The shape of the head with twin braid hair ‘Strawberry Voice’ is the work produced in 2007 and it is the work which shows the world of various works of the artist drawing, painting, sculpture and video condensing them into one. And it is the masterpiece of the artist in which the world reflected on the pupils of the eyes of genuine character and objet which fill up the inside of the sculpture show the world which is the origin of the memory and imagination of the artist.
The exhibition will be held in Leeahn Gallery Daegu and Seoul at the same time and an opening reception with the artist in Leeahn Gallery Daegu at 6:00 pm on 19th November.
