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.
Title treatment
Poster
Poster
Wheat paste
Exhibition guide
Exhibition guide
Installation view
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 color palette was inspired by Mr.’s portrait of Pharrell Williams, done in a mini-kyara or “mini character” style of anime.
Credits
Xiaojin Wu, Curator
Chris Manojlovic, Director of Exhibition Design
Cindy McKinley, Lead Project Manager
Nina Mettler, Design Manager
Primary image
Mr., (Born Masakatsu Iwamoto). We're off to the outskirts of hope, 2014, 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.
Typeset in Bello Script by Underware and Gotham by Hoefler&Co.