Chiho Aoshima’s Little Miss Gravestone’s Absent Musing (2016) is one of the works that will be exhibited at Juxtapoz vs. Superflat. © 2016 Chiho Aoshima/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Fresh off its awesome Mashup: The Birth of Modern Culture show earlier this year, the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby St.) is again going contemporary with a new exhibit of daring work from a variety of international artists.
Conceived by the renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and co-curated with Evan Pricco, Editor-in-Chief of the art magazine Juxtapoz Art & Culture, Juxtapoz x Superflat features the work of more than 30 artists from Japan, Korea, Canada, the United States and Europe. The exhibition opens at the VAG Nov. 5 and runs until Feb. 5, 2017.
According to the VAG press release, “Juxtapoz x Superflat is a manifesto for new creative practices that can no longer be adequately described by the traditional categories of art and modes of production.” In plain English, co-curators Murakami and Pricco want the exhibit to be representative of the most exciting visual art to emerge in recent years. The artists selected are influenced by various subcultures, whether it’s graffiti, street art, comics, design, illustration, painting, digital, or even (gasp!) traditional arts.
According to the VAG release, Murakami coined the term “superflat” while describing the future of Japanese art. For the artist, “’superflat’ meant many things — a recognition of the formal qualities of contemporary design, anime and manga; the fundamental importance of sub-cultures in the conception of contemporary art; the persistent presence of a banal and superficial consumer culture; a flattening of traditional hierarchies; and a reconfiguration of the edges and boundaries that have traditionally shaped meaning in contemporary cultural production.” There you have it.
David Shrigley The Life Model, 2012 mixed media installation Courtesy of Kaikai Kiki Co.
Artists includes: Nina Chanel Abney, Chiho Aoshima, Urs Fischer, GATS, Kim Jung Gi, Kazunori Hamana, Trenton Doyle Hancock, John Hathway, Todd James, James Jean, Friedrich Kunath, Austin Lee, MADSAKI, Geoff McFetridge, Christian Rex van Minnen, Rebecca Morgan, and many more.
Rebecca Morgan Pittsburgh Joely Jug, 2014 stoneware. Courtesy of Asya Geisberg Gallery.
For more info, visit vancouverartgallery.bc.ca.
