-YES-
YUTA HOSOKAWA
June 8, 2021 – June 26, 2021
GALLERY HOURS :11:00 – 19:00
GALLERY CLOSED:
SUNDAYS, MONDAYS, PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
※Please note that entry may be restricted if the number of visitors exceeds the maximum capacity.
“Even if the artwork may look like a parody at first glance, I want you to look at it with a positive mindset without preconception. By doing so, you may start to see things differently.”
Yuta Hosokawa
In May 2021, Kaikai Kiki Gallery will hold the first solo exhibition of Yuta Hosokawa, the designer of READYMADE and © SAINT M ××××××.
Yuta Hosokawa made his debut as a designer of the apparel brand READYMADE. Getting attention from the likes of Virgil Abloh, the brand quickly became the top leader of street luxury after being imported back from the United States to Japan.
With Upcycling as its motto, the brand rescues vintage military fabric for making bags, which has attracted a lot of attention. They also continue to present collaborations with various brands.
In 2020, Hosokawa launched a new brand “© SAINT M ×××××× (Saint Michael)” as a joint project with Los Angeles-based artist Cali Thornhill DeWitt.
Under the concept of pursuing an authentic vintage style, they aim to produce products with the texture and the touch that create a feeling of original vintage items despite being new.
This first solo art exhibition will feature graphic designs used in Hosokawa’s products. Hosokawa, who has made a name for himself as a fashion designer and creator, will be presenting “graphics as art” instead of “graphics for clothing design.”
All the artworks in this show were made from scratch at Takashi Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki’s Miyoshi Studio, including 3D works born out of communications using 3D data. We are thrilled to have you enjoy the works realized through detailed LINE communications with Hosokawa, who is based in Osaka, as well as countless back and forth of sample materials and mock-ups,
From art to fashion, and then from fashion to art.
Please don’t miss this chance to experience Yuta Hosokawa’s artistic side more closely.
Kaikai Kiki Gallery
I am very proud to present Yuta Hosokawa’s solo exhibition.
Yuta Hosokawa is a designer of READYMADE and © SAINT M ××××××. For the past 3 years or so, he has been making apparels with my designs and, in the process, has been communicating with me extremely well.
Frankly speaking, I am not a huge fan of collaboration in the first place. You might think I must be kidding, but communicating with people is really not my forte. Yet when creators approach to me with ideas in good spirits, I tend to open myself up immediately. As a result, I often end up working on a collaboration without any business insights, which I come to regret. However, with Hosokawa, we truly got along well with each other and had a lot of fun working together.
The first big impact we made with our collaboration was with the basketball pants on which my flowers were sewn as embroidered patches made by the manufacturer of the baseball team emblem of Osaka Hanshin Tigers. It turned out so wonderfully that I wore them as part of my costumes during various interviews and photo shoots for a while.
They were very well received and we got many queries about purchasing them, so I asked Hosokawa, and he said he would be able to produce another 50 of them. He made them one by one over the next year or so and they each sold out immediately despite the high price. They are still being traded at very high prices in the secondary market now.
Taking a good look at Hosokawa’s various works, especially after the launch of his new brand © SAINT M ××××××, I noted that he uses so many graphic patterns, and thought that by transferring those graphic patterns onto canvas, we may be able to exhibited and sell them as an artist’s works.
I shared my thoughts with Hosokawa and he asked me to proceed with the idea in whatever way I preferred. So I explored what the foundation of Hosokawa’s creativity might be, as well as how he selects the textures and materials for his works. Based on these, we created the new artworks presented in this show from scratch at Kaikai Kiki’s Miyoshi Studio in Saitama Prefecture.
As a matter of fact, Hosokawa is a genius at engaging in collaborative activities with different manufacturers and collaborators in the first place. He has a talent for accurately expressing and conveying exactly what he wants to create. It would perhaps not be an exaggeration to say that I was unwittingly co-opted by him.
The differences between top brands and mediocre brands in a given industry, be it clothing, shoes, or bags, for example, range from the quality of concept to the texture of the completed products, as well as obsessive attention to details. In that sense, the works made in my studio are art pieces full of craftsmanship, and are packed with optimum enticing sparks. Therefore, we as the producer can proudly stand behind these artworks’ perfection and how well they have turned out. Hosokawa was also very happy as he saw the works being completed, so I think we will be able to reach our goal with good results. It has been a very challenging exhibition.
Next, I want to touch upon why I invited someone like Yuta Hosokawa into the art industry. When I first made my debut as an artist, I manifested the notion of Superflat, considering everything such as manga, fashion, illustration, and art on a flat plane. Each of these media is erupting with talent, yet the concept of high art is not established in Japan. So I thought it might be possible to establish works based on these various creative media as high art by adopting the appropriate form. We tried this out with Takashi Murakami and Kaikai Kiki artists and it worked: We fit squarely into the Western art scene.
This is why I figured that so many talented creators could be brought out who can secure the standing as an artist by invoking this form/format and using their gift of ideas.
Just as with manga artists or “light” novelists in the Japanese cultural strata, when it comes to copying the great cultural heritage of one’s predecessors and creating new things from there, I believe that there are inexhaustible talents in Japan. In that sense, I also felt something outstanding about Hosokawa, and so I invited him to the art world.
Yuta Hosokawa is outstandingly talented amongst the crowd, and I believe he will continue to expand his talents in fashion, art, toys, as well as furniture and architecture.
This is a very challenging exhibition. Those of you in the fashion industry, as well as in the art industry, please come see the exhibition with your eyes peeled.
Thank you.
Takashi Murakami
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.