Exhibited Artist
Mr.
Japanese, 1969
Today, Mr. lives and works in Saitama, outside of Tokyo, Japan.
Mr. (b. 1969, Cupa, Japan) graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Sokei Art School in Tokyo in 1996. Mr.'s work simultaneously studies and partakes in otaku, the Japanese "cute" subculture marked by an obsession with adolescence, manga, anime, video games, and more. Like his fellow Superflat artists, Mr. approaches the visual language of anime and manga as a means of examining Japanese culture at large, fusing high and low forms of contemporary expression. In past work, Mr. has played with the hypersexualized portrayal of young women prevalent in otaku. Known in Japan as “lolicon,” a portmanteau of “Lolita Complex,” this word has come to refer to the otaku preference for explicitly fictional young girls. In the years since the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor meltdown in Tohoku, Japan, Mr. has begun to move away from the cute characters, bright colors, and clean finishes characteristic of his work, and has gravitated toward a gritty and abstract painting style, reminiscent of his early work inspired by Arte Povera, through which he explores themes of destruction.
Mr.'s work is represented in numerous public and private collections worldwide.
Mr. (b. 1969, Cupa, Japan) graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Sokei Art School in Tokyo in 1996. Mr.'s work simultaneously studies and partakes in otaku, the Japanese "cute" subculture marked by an obsession with adolescence, manga, anime, video games, and more. Like his fellow Superflat artists, Mr. approaches the visual language of anime and manga as a means of examining Japanese culture at large, fusing high and low forms of contemporary expression. In past work, Mr. has played with the hypersexualized portrayal of young women prevalent in otaku. Known in Japan as “lolicon,” a portmanteau of “Lolita Complex,” this word has come to refer to the otaku preference for explicitly fictional young girls. In the years since the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor meltdown in Tohoku, Japan, Mr. has begun to move away from the cute characters, bright colors, and clean finishes characteristic of his work, and has gravitated toward a gritty and abstract painting style, reminiscent of his early work inspired by Arte Povera, through which he explores themes of destruction.
Mr.'s work is represented in numerous public and private collections worldwide.
