Gallery Afternoon Collaborates with Katsumiyamato Gallery
Opening of First Large-Scale Group Exhibition by Japanese Artists
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The first domestic group exhibition featuring 17 millennial artists gaining attention in the Japanese art scene will be held.
On the 6th, Gallery Afternoon in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul announced that it will hold a large-scale group exhibition titled "STYLE WARS in SEOUL" in collaboration with Japan's Katsumiyamato Gallery, introducing 17 Japanese artists. This exhibition was planned through collaboration between galleries in Korea and Japan to showcase the most prominent millennial generation artists currently active in Japan.
The participating artists include NKSIN, who is attracting global attention in the art world, as well as Yasuhito Yuhara, Keiko Migita, Toru Tohiguchi, SIVELIA, Yuka Katsuki, Kisho Kakutani, hin, buggy, Honoka Hayashi, Ryoko Sugizaki, Yuri Ikeguchi, Takuma Isibe, Shintaro Inoue, Chizuko Ninomiya, Ryosuke Misawa, and Atsushi Murakami, totaling 17 artists.
The exhibition theme "Style Wars" is borrowed from the title of a documentary film released in 1983. The documentary depicted the emergence of hip-hop culture in the 1970s and its cultural development across various fields, illustrating the birth and expansion of hip-hop culture by connecting graffiti, rap, DJing, and breakdancing.
In this exhibition, Japanese artists reinterpret graffiti, a key element of the film Style Wars, within the realm of contemporary art.
Particularly, the works of NKSIN are drawing attention. Born in 1994, he gained worldwide interest by portraying cultural icons of the era such as actors, musicians, and painters in his portraits. Born to a Japanese father and a Filipino mother, NKSIN comes from a multicultural family background and has experienced discrimination since childhood, which he expresses as both the theme and motivation of his work. His recent portrait series "People Without Mouths" started from the idea, "If there were no mouths, would there be no discrimination?" The works exhibited this time are also from the People Without Mouths series. The main character wears a yellow round-neck shirt and AirPods, resembling Michelangelo’s David sculpture. Despite a serious expression, the figure appears as if jogging, creating a humorous atmosphere. This figure, summoned into a contemporary frame, simultaneously reveals longing and rejection toward both the past and present.
Additionally, buggy, who continues extensive activities through collaborations with commercial brands, and SIVELIA, who transitioned from working as a graphic designer in the fashion industry to gaining public support through custom figure works, also attract attention.
Gallery Afternoon’s director Kim Ami stated, “Rather than simply bringing urban graffiti as it is, we aim to embrace today’s young 'visual expressionists' who express themselves through various styles beyond graffiti art as 'contemporary graffiti artists.'”
The exhibition runs until the 26th at Gallery Afternoon in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
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