Live On: Mr.’s Japanese Neo-Pop
Seattle Asian Art Museum, 2014
As a member of the otaku subculture, Mr.’s work ties closely with otaku lifestyle, which is often marked by obsessive interests in anime and manga, confining oneself to one’s room with limited social contact, and choosing fantasy or virtual experiences over real-world interactions.
For the exhibition’s title, I chose to mirror Mr.’s kawaii (cute) Japanese pop art style with Underware’s playful Bello Script. I employed a bold outline to punch up the title above the visually dense compositions. The bold outline is reminiscent of both graffiti and cartoon-style lettering, which is also thematic in the work. The colour palette was inspired by Mr.’s portrait of Pharrell Williams, done in a mini-kyara or “mini character” style of anime.
Primary image
We're off to the outskirts of hope, 2014, Mr., (Born Masakatsu Iwamoto) Japanese, b. 1969. Acrylic, watercolor and pen on paper, 15.94 x 12.28 in., Courtesy Lehmann Maupin, New York, © 2014 Mr./Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., All rights reserved.