a gallery & Air are proud to present the joint exhibition : DREAMS Kaikai Kiki artists - Takashi Murakami, Aya Takano, Mr important prints “One of the most distinctive characteristics of Murakami work is the sense it carries of going too far” - Chiaka kayama Director of Edition Worlds printmaker for Kaikai Kiki Takashi Murakami In just 15 years Takashi Murakami wrote a chapter of the contemporary art history; he is today well known in the art scene and a large public for making paintings and sculptures, large installations and also provoking cross over collaboration with Louis Vuitton, however during all this years Takashi and his team also devoted themselves to the creation of high quality lithographs prints. Takashi was driven by his love of prints and went far beyond all traditional printing methods, always pushing the limits of the printing methods, size, colors and quality. “Today printmaking as a genre, lies quietly in the shadows of the art scene, and that’s exactly why we feel it is so important to pursue it now. I believe that in the future, it will arise to become one of the scene’s main components” Murakami founded the Hiropon factory in Tokyo in 1996, which later evolved into Kaikai Kiki Co., a large-scale art production and art management corporation that includes Aya Takano, Mr, Chiho Aoshima, Chinatsu Ban, Rei Sato and others producing a prolific works in both fine arts media, such as painting, as well as digital and commercial media breaking the barriers between East and West and low or high art. With a world inspired from the Japanese Otaku culture with lovely and colorful characters, flowers or monsters the Kaikai Kiki artists explore different worlds with different style but their works are always sprinkled with such impossible details playing with our eyes, imagination and dreams… Dreams exhibition will display important prints from the early and recent years for these 3 majors artists. Aya Takano At only 34 years old Aya Takano is one of the most popular Kaikai Kiki artists with her fantastical work have at its core Japanese manga, science fiction novels, a hint of eroticism, and modified "Japonism". Her drawings and paintings, in which her lively characters freely float, are filled with pure passion and energy towards creation. Takano's distinctive style attracts the viewer to enter her shiny, bizarre, futuristic world, yet soft and full of traditional and sensual imagery. Mr Mr works also in a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, and video, though his works are all closely related in aesthetics, style, and theme. A self-proclaimed Otaku with a Lolita complex, which he says he does not act upon, his pieces depict young boys and girls in an animé/manga style, drawing upon the aesthetics and attitudes of otaku culture, and lolicon themes. While quite cute and innocent on the surface, many of his works are also quite sexualized, tying into the anime phenomenon of fanservice, and leaving it an open question as to how innocent his works are in the end. Recently, Mr’s work was displayed at the Musee D’Art Contemporain de Lyon with fellow Kaikai Kiki artists Chiho Aoshima and Aya Takano. In 2005, he was included in the acclaimed exhibition Little Boy: The Arts of Japanese Exploding Subculture held in New York. Warmest thanks again for your support at our opening reception of "DREAMS" on 13.JAN.2011 (thurs). It was a great success with over 70 guests attending. We hope you all enjoyed the evening. Look forward to meeting with you at our next opening reception!