PAST EXHIBITION
Ryu Okubo ART SHOW 2016
Like A Broken iPhone
- Date
April 8th(Fri) – April 24th(Sun), 2016
- Time
12:00 – 19:00
Closed on Monday
- Venue
- Entrance
Free
- Opening Reception
April 8th(Fri)
19:00 – 22:00
Equipped with gentle hand-written touches and lively organic expression, Ryo Okubo has aggressively been releasing his works via magazines, other publications, videos, or commercials. This new work exhibition has been realized after a long-prepared plan, consisting of 100 pieces such as animation, paintings, drawings, textiles, or sculptures that were specially created for this occasion. On the premiere evening, Fri April 8, there is going to be a reception with an appearance of the artist as well as a talk event scheduled on Sat Apr 16, when Okubo will tell not only interpretation of the exhibition but paintings or music he was influenced by and his ordinary introspection.
We are looking forward to seeing you at this remarkable show featuring as many as 100 pieces even at a debut.
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“Like a Broken iPhone” is the artist’s first anthology capturing the contents of the solo exhibition. It carries the entire over 100 works including the paintings, drawings, textiles and solid works plus production documentary, exhibition scenes, and interviews.
(designed by Masataka Kikuchi (ASYL), photography by Shusaku Yoshikawa)
Price: \3,600 +tax/Limited edition of 600 copies
Size: 195mm x 148mm/208 color pages/softcover
Publisher: INS Studio Inc
https://store.ryuokubo.jp/like-a-broken-iphone/
The Artist’s Statement
As you live your life, you bump into thoughts like “How about turning this into an art piece?” or “What happens if I did an exhibition like this?” Funny enough, these motives or incidents that strike you are not very surprising in many cases.
For instance, such a trivial incident as “I dropped my iPhone.” could be a good trigger for me to draw paintings. These imaginations accumulated formed a certain kind of shape in my head; I decided to create works and to do this exhibition.
Ryu Okubo
The Curator’s Statement
The world Ryu Okubo depicts include many characters of animal and plants shaped like men; even inorganic matters are expressed with charming hand-written lines, presenting friendliness, and, at the same time, coolness.
It is very urbane and modern.
He is not looking for something: his world has already been there. It seems to me that “reality” that no one else can’t obtain exists in Okobo’s head.
Reality we feel is sometimes gentle, which bring us convulsive euphoria, but, at other times, incredible pressure and pain.
Okubo’s “reality” encompasses such hardships; its weight adheres his hand-drawn lines to our reality. Strangely, his atmosphere is gallantly light.
Noriyuki Abe (Calm & Punk Gallery)
Ryu Okubo
Illustrator/Video artist
Brought up in Louisiana, USA. The animation “Nerenai!!!” (I Can’t Sleep!) he produced for a hip-hop group PSG in 2011 gained reputation. Provided illustrations for such magazines as Popeye; Brutus; Transit; Number; a book of Haruomi Hosono; a disk guide of Bob Dylan, and designs for Beams-T. Directed music videos featuring animation for acts as Kazuyoshi Saito; Masafumi Goto (Asian Kung-Fu Generation); group_inou; Kaisoku Tokyo, and D. A. N. Other commissioned works utilizing hand-drawn illustrations include advertisements for Tokyo Metro; TV spots for MTV and Space Shower; interior artworks for commercial premises, and video directions at live shows.
(c)Ryu Okubo / Photo by Shusaku Yoshikawa