TOKYO HANABI
GALLERY HOURS | Thu.–Sat. 11:00–13:00, 14:00–19:00
CLOSED | Sun–Wed., National Holidays
Winter Holidays | December 25, 2022 – January 9, 2023
*Depending on COVID-19, the exhibition period and the content may be changed.
TAKAY feat. YOSHIROTTEN, “TOKYO HANABI”
Akio Nagasawa Gallery Aoyama is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition “TOKYO HANABI” introducing works by the artists Takay and Yoshirotten.
Takay is an internationally active photographer who is presently based in Tokyo and New York. In April 2020, his exhibition “In Praise of Shadow (Homage to Tadao Ando),” themed around Tadao Ando’s architectural design, was shown to great acclaim at Akio Nagasawa Gallery Ginza.
Tokyo-based graphic artist Yoshirotten produces works by a variety of creative means, while also working as an art director.
Showcased in this exhibition are the results of a collaboration between the two artists, in the form of Takay’s photographs with additional graphic treatments by Yoshirotten.
At this occasion, the large-format book TOKYO HANABI is also published by Akio Nagasawa Publishing in a limited edition of 1,000.
We are looking forward to your visit.
Statements
In the spring of 2020, when Covid-19 unexpectedly forced me to stay in Tokyo, I started shooting photographs on two different themes.
One of them was “Tokyo” itself, and from the resulting series, I selected a number of photos with flowers as a central motif, which Yoshirotten then refined into hanabi – fireworks in the middle of Tokyo.
– Takay
The sceneries in Takay’s photos of Tokyo included flowers that bloom while tied up in chains, concrete, barricades or wire netting, and lights running through the city.
The streets of Tokyo are being controlled, and full of restrictions that hamper people’s freedom in one way or another.
The flowers that fight for their survival under these restrictions are beautiful and strong, and they shine even brighter during the night.
We encountered them like inhabitants of Tokyo at night that are demanding freedom.
I semi-automatically took several of Takay’s photographs apart, combined them in a random fashion, and drew onto them with light in a graffiti style, to capture moments of the city life.
– Yoshirotten
Artists
TAKAY
TAKAY
Born in 1973, Takay began his career in 1996 after moving to the United Kingdom, working with the British fashion magazine i-D. He is currently based in Tokyo and New York, contributing to a wide range of international publications such as Harper’s Bazaar Germany and L’Uomo Vogue, as well as producing advertising work for global brands including Armani Jeans and Y-3.
His major exhibition includes participation in the expanded edition of Bravehearts: Men in Skirts, originally held at the Victoria and Albert Museum and later showcased at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2003); CULTURE CHANEL (2011, MoCA Shanghai), which explored the history and creative essence of the CHANEL brand; The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, a traveling exhibition that toured 12 cities worldwide from 2011 to 2016; and PUNK: Chaos to Couture (2013, The Metropolitan Museum of Art), among many others.
His publications include ECHOS (2016) and Fluence: The Continuance of Yohji Yamamoto (2020).
YOSHIROTTEN
YOSHIROTTEN
YOSHIROTTEN is a graphic artist and art director based in Tokyo. Born in 1983, he works across a wide spectrum of fields, including graphics, moving images, 3D works, installations and music. Besides his career as an artist in his own right, Yoshirotten also serves as an art director and multidisciplinary designer for diverse clients, his works ranging from artwork for both nationally and internationally known musicians, to graphics for fashion brands, advertising visuals and commercial space design.
Yoshirotten has held solo shows in London and Berlin, and in 2018 he mounted a massive exhibition of his works, his largest to date, titled “FUTURE NATURE.” Held at TOLOT/heuristic SHINONOME in Tokyo, the exhibition included an enormous installation work using 1,300 square meters of space, 3D works, moving images and graphic works. In 2017 a collection of his artworks, “GASBOOK 33 YOSHIROTTEN,” was published by GASBOOK.
Publication
TOKYO HANABI
A collaboration book of TAKAY's photographs and YOSHIROTTEN's graphics.
A limited edition of 1,000 copies will be published in conjunction with the exhibition "TOKYO HANABI" (December 9, 2022 - January 28, 2023) at Akio Nagasawa Gallery Aoyama. A limited number of copies signed by both artists will be available.
TOKYO HANABI (Special Edition) A
This is the special edition of the book TOKYO HANABI with one original print (Archival Pigment Print) included.
Photobook and print are signed and numbered.
TOKYO HANABI (Special Edition) B
This is the special edition of the book TOKYO HANABI with one original print (Archival Pigment Print) included.
Photobook and print are signed and numbered.
TOKYO HANABI (Special Edition) C
This is the special edition of the book TOKYO HANABI with one original print (Archival Pigment Print) included.
Photobook and print are signed and numbered.