2021 Kaikai Kiki Autumn Show

September 10 – 19,2021
GALLERY HOURS:11:00〜19:00
*Open every day

※This exhibition is now concluded.
Thank you to all the many people who stopped by.

©2012 ob/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

 

Starting September 10, 2021, Kaikai Kiki Gallery will be presenting our Autumn Show.
In addition to the represented Kaikai Kiki artists, the group show features guest artists who have held solo exhibitions in recent years at Kaikai Kiki Gallery or Hidari Zingaro in Nakano Broadway, as well as artists who used to present works during the early years of Kaikai Kiki’s establishment. From new works that have arrived directly from the artists’ studios to works that are shown for the first time in more than a decade, we will exhibit them all under the curation of Takashi Murakami. The exhibition will run only for 10 days, and we will be open every day for the duration of the show. We look forward to welcoming you.

Participating artists are as follows. Mr. / Aya Takano / MADSAKI / TENGAone / Otani Workshop / ob / Emi Kuraya / T9G / Yuta Hosokawa (READYMADE·©SAINTM×××××) / Hideyasu Moto / Katsuya Terada / Chinatsu Ban / Mahomi Kunikata

 


Mr.

Lives and works in Shiki, Saitama Prefecture.
An artist with a career of over 20 years, Mr. debuted in association with the Superflat movement at a time when what we call otaku art today barely existed in contemporary art. Early in his career, Mr. used to exaggerate his proximity to otaku culture, but recently he has been closing in on his inner qualities; by using hoarding and its rock-bottom culture as the background for the standing anime-style girl, he is highlighting a contrast between the ugly and the beautiful. As a recent trend, he has often been depicting a girl’s large, yōkai-like head in the middle of his composition, creating an ominous vibe. In the backgrounds, he depicts the suburban and industrial landscapes of peripheral Japan. These portray the country at the dawn of the bubble economy, that brutal yet nostalgic era.
Looking back, we realize Mr.’s work has been a big influence to both the art and the otaku scenes in Japan since.
In 2021 and beyond, Mr. has confirmed solo exhibitions at museums in Shanghai and Phoenix, USA.
 
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Quotidianist, HOW Art Museum (Shanghai)
2019 A Call to Action, Guimet Museum (Paris)
2019 Mr.’s Melancholy Walk Around Town, Galerie Perrotin (Paris)

Mr., TBC, 2021


Aya Takano

Aya Takano continues to depict in her paintings themes such as the structure of a strange world, the fraying seams of society, curiously deformed animals, and the dogma of human desire, which in turn constitute her artwork.
Since 1990s to this day, film adaptations of 1960s hard-boiled science fiction novels, for example by Phillip K. Dick, have become the mainstream in Hollywood. That is, it took more than thirty years for the general public to unlock the labyrinthine contents of such novels. Likewise, the true value of Takano’s work shall become apparent thirty or more years in the future, when audiences will decipher the vast range of uncharted information which lies beneath its surface. Please immerse yourself in the paintings filled with the power to heal your soul.
 
Solo Exhibitions
2020 beginning, liminal, ego, Galerie Perrotin (Hong Kong)
2021 Apple Universe – Apple Cycle / Cosmic Seed, Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art (Aomori)

Aya Takano, TBC, 2021


MADSAKI

Born in Osaka in 1974 and relocated to New Jersey at a young age, MADSAKI graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York (BFA, 1996) and was a member of international artist group Barnstormers before starting his solo career. Sentimental while being sharply satirical, aggressive yet vulnerable, MADSAKI has been using techniques with graffiti influences as a way to express the frustration and sense of alienation resulting from his bicultural identity and to critique the value of art.
 
Solo Exhibitions
HELLO DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND (I‘VE COME TO TALK WITH YOU AGAIN),
Galerie Perrotin (New York)
2020 1984, Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo)

MADSAKI, TBC, 2021


TENGAone

TENGAone (b. 1977) is a street artist based in Tokyo. His alias derives from the notion of “Ga ga tenshoku (TenGa),” which translates to “Art is my calling.”
TENGAone grew up in a neighborhood near an American military base where he frequently encountered American-style graffiti such as tags and throw-ups done by soldiers who had brought their home country’s art movement over to Japan. This firsthand exposure to graffiti culture had a profound effect on the artist, and at the age of 14 he began creating his own graffiti using spray paint. In 2007, after having worked as a graphic designer and at a web design company for several years, he began his official career as an artist. His practice encompasses a wide range of genres including street graffiti and murals on commercial and public facilities, as well as sculpture and graphic design. His artworks have also been exhibited at art galleries and art fairs.

Solo Exhibition
2022 Doki Heads Tokyo Shibuya 1990 (tentative), Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo)

TENGAone, DOKIHEAD, 2021


Otani Workshop

Shigeru Otani works under the name of Otani workshop and creates sculptures using ceramics techniques. Born and raised in a town close to Shigaraki, the center of pottery-making since ancient times, he has long produced his work at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park co-operative studio after graduating from university. After the success of his solo exhibition at Kaikai Kiki Gallery in 2016, Otani came to wish for his own space and kiln for his colossal works, and moved his base to a former roof tile factory in Awaji Island where he now produces large-scale paintings, enormous ceramic works, and bronze works, among others.
 
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Like a Talisma, Galerie Perrotin (New York)
2020 Be if you can, even if you don’t have to be, let it be, Galerie Perrotin (New York)

Otani Workshop, Golden boy, 2021


ob

In 2010, there was a burst of talents among the Japanese artists of the social media generation. They would discuss their works within their Twitter or pixiv communities focused on drawings, organize as groups, and curate and hold several exhibitions together. ob debuted with one such exhibition, wassyoi, in the limelight. “Wassyoi,” incidentally, is a type of cheer chanted at festivals.
In 2013, ob collaborated with Shu Uemura. In recent years, she has presented her work at a number art fairs overseas. An artist of a new generation who has grown up being familiar with games and social media, ob expresses a delicate and fantastic world with girls with big eyes as her motif.
Solo Exhibitions
2021 (Title TBC), Galerie Perrotin (New York)
2020 Spiral and Spring, Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo)
2020 Provided artworks used as an artist character’s works in Netflix drama FOLLOWERS by Mika Ninagawa

ob, Diffusion, 2010


くらやえみ

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1995, Kuraya is an artist currently majoring in oil painting at Tama Art University. In 2018, she held a solo exhibition titled Inside Outside at Hidari Zingaro and became a represented artist of Kaikai Kiki. This year, she will have her work presented at Art Basel Hong Kong and Frieze New York.
With young girls as her main painting motif, she has been gaining solid popularity and her continued success is eagerly expected.
For Kuraya, depicting a girl is “an act akin to writing down what I feel and see every day in my diary.” She says that her work derives from the dark aspects of what she has touched and felt so far in her life. She is looking for ways to connect with the outside world through the young girls in her painting, who hold subdued brightness within their darkness and are also aggregates of various people and images that the she has seen so far.
 
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Window and Scales, Galerie Perrotin (Seoul)
2019 In Search of a Lull, Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo)

Emi Kuraya, TBC, 2021


T9G (TAKUJI)

An artist living and working in Tokyo, T9G makes use of the techniques cultivated as a sculptor of toy figures and presents a number of works as a sculptor. Mainly using dolls’ eyes, T9G creates sculptures that embody a unique worldview. His main past projects include the production of characters for Tokyo Aoyama LOVELLESS, as well as solo exhibitions in Japan and abroad. A number of original art figures have also been released.
 
Exhibition History 2021 (Title TBD), Two-person exhibition with Nakazawa Shoko, Hidari Zingaro (Tokyo) 2019 UNWRAPPED group exhibition JPS Art Gallery (Tokyo) 2018 ARTIFACT dotdotdot Gallery (solo exhibition) (Hong Kong)

T9G, RANGEAS, 2021


Hideyasu Moto

Born in Kyoto in 1969, Moto is an illustrator/manga artist. Since 1990, he has been working as a freelance illustrator. Later, he also debuted as a manga artist, gaining an enthusiastic fan base for his seemingly idyllic style of drawing that contrasts with his acutely poisonous stories and worldview. The artist has a deep knowledge of music and frequently writes for music magazines. Moto’s work encompasses commercials, magazine advertisements, and CD jackets. His main works include Recosuke-kun (Music Magazine), MOTOBook (Yoizumi-sha), and Moto Hideyasu no egaku yon peiji (4 pages drawn by Hideyasu Moto) (published by Ota).
 
Solo Exhibitions 2021 (Title TBD), Hidari Zingaro (Tokyo)
2019 MOTO JAM, VOID (Tokyo)
2018 Rock and Manga, Creation Gallery G8 (Tokyo)

Hideyasu Moto, How to build an empire, 2003


Katsuya Terada

Born in Tamano, Okayama Prefecture, Terada started out as a manga artist and illustrator. He is well known domestically and abroad for his works such as “Western Organic War・The Great Monkey King” (SHUSEISHA), “Virtua Fighter 2” character re-design (SEGA), and “BLOOD: The Last Vampire” (Production IG), among others. He has also been actively exhibiting his works, holding solo shows in Japan, the United States, and Taiwan. This will be his second exhibition with Hidari Zingaro since 2015. His recent publications include “Katsuya Terada Real Size” and “SKETCH” (all PIE International), both containing 500 pages of his doodles and sketches.

Solo Exhibitions 2021 Monster Head Girl, Hidari Zingaro (Tokyo)

Katsuya Terada, TBC


Yuta Hosokawa

Born October 27, 1982, in Osaka Prefecture. In 2013, he launched the Upcycling brand READYMADE and released a series of bags. The launch of the bags at a select shop Maxfield in Los Angeles gave him the opportunity to build his reputation in the U.S. first and later in Japan. In the fall of 2020, he launched © SAINT Mxxxxxx with Cali Thornhill DeWitt, who is based in Los Angeles and is active as a multi-faceted visual artist. Immediately upon its debut, it became a popular brand that regularly sells out. In the spring of 2021, READYMADE will release a chair made by recycling PET bottle caps, expanding their product range beyond apparel.

Solo Exhibition 2021 (Title TBD), Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo) READYMADE × NIKE BLAZER MID

Yuta Hosokawa, TBC, 2021


Chinatsu Ban

Chinatsu Ban’s work has been well-received among Japan’s liberal and female-centered subculture scenes. She has illustrated the opening animation of a documentary television series on socially independent women and has co-authored a children’s book that encourages social independence in young readers. From LOHAS (sustainable living) movement to predilection for the paranormal, some aspects of Japanese subculture scene are, from time to time, linked to the anxiety about and antagonism toward reality. This unease has grown more prevalent in the aftermath of the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, especially the resulting nuclear disaster, meshing artistically with surrealism to provide an escape from the real world. Ban’s works connect with the most vividly felt emotions of today’s Japanese woman and act as an effective source of comfort.

Chinatsu Ban


Mahomi Kunikata

Mahomi Kunikata has been diagnosed with bulimia and Asperger’s syndrome and has been forced to quit her part-time jobs a number of times. Her mood is erratic, and her pace of creative production is accordingly inconsistent as well. Nevertheless, she has a savant-like concentration on the other hand, and as soon as she enters her production mode, she creates astonishing works of art. After a two-year hiatus, she successfully rebooted herself in 2012, and has produced many new original works in succession. Her masterpiece is “The Sound of Something Freezing” series. Kunikata collaborated with animation director Hiroshi Nagahama to produce an animation of the same name. The artist is also working on her new original manga series as well.

Mahomi Kunikata,Garden Restaurant Plant Worm,2007



As precautionary measures to help contain the further spread of COVID-19, visitors are asked to wear masks and sanitize their hands before entering the gallery.
(Hand sanitizer is available at the entrance. Visitors without masks will be refused entry.)
Please refrain from visiting the gallery if you have any symptoms such as fever or cough.

Our staff will also adopt frequent hand sanitation and wear masks. The gallery will be routinely ventilated and high-touch areas will be regularly disinfected.

*Please check our website or Instagram for the latest information regarding opening hours, as the gallery schedule is subject to abrupt change due to unpredictable circumstances.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

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