A Little Bit Things Until Now

Duration : 12:00-19:00 （Closed on Mondays）

Opening : 2020.Dec.20th(sun)-2021.Feb.14th(sun)

Venue : Clinic Mall 3F, the Towers Daiba Build.,2-2-4 Daiba,Minato-ku-ku,Tokyo

Tel : +81 (0) 3-6426-0726

Web : https://shunartdesign.com/

Artist : しりあがり寿｜Shiriagari Kotobuki

From December 20th, 2020 (Sunday), Shun Art Gallery Tokyo will hold an exhibition “”A little bit things until now ――Mini Retrospective Exhibition of Shiriagari Kotobuki “”.

Shiriagari Kotobuki is well-known for his funny, casual and surreal comics and experimental and highly critical comics.His works are widely acclaimed and have won many awards such as the ” Bungeishunju Manga Award”, the “Tezuka Osamu Culture Award” and the ” Excellence Manga Award”.

He not only created a large number of comic works of various styles, but also active in the art field as a contemporary artist.He tried to use different techniques and material to create contemporary art works, such as installations, videos, ink and paper paintings.In 2018, he held a solo exhibition “Laughing in spring nap” at Shun Art Gallery Shanghai, which was highly praised.

In this “A little bit things until now ――Mini Retrospective Exhibition of Shiriagari Kotobuki “, we will exhibit many representative works from previous exhibitions. This exhibition starts with the works from”Shibuya Utagawa-cho Shiriagari Kotobuki Historical Museum” which held in Shibuya Parco in 2002, and will also exhibit the rotating installations in “KAI•TEN•KAI”exhibition in 2016, and improvisation ink on Washi installation exhibited in Shanghai. In addition, there is also a series of spoof works re-created Katsushika Hokusai by Shiriagari kotobuki which is very creative.

Through various forms of works such as “comic prints”, video works, ink installations, prints,we can deeply experience the “world of Shiriagari Kotobuki “. We hope that everyone can come to experience and feel the charm of Shiriagari Kotobuki’s works.

About “degeneration”—— Kotobuki Shiriagari Solo Exhibition for “Mini Retrospective
“A little bit things until now ――Mini Retrospective Exhibition of Shiriagari Kotobuki “

The dramatic troublesome 2020 is about running to the end.

After the emergency situation in Tokyo was lifted, I visited the exhibition “Timeless Conversations 2020: Voices from Japanese Art of the Past and Present” at the National Art Center Tokyo. There were eight classical artists and eight contemporary artists. Among those artworks Katsushika Hokusai vs. Shiriagari Kotobuki is the most impressive part. The series “Thirty-six Views of Mt. FUJI” was spoofed as “Something that is fun, almost thirty-six views”. Among them, Hokusai’s work “South Wind Clear Sky”, which is called “Aka Fuji”, was spoofed as “Shaving Fuji” by Shiriagari Kotobuki. The contemporary humor alludes to classical works, full of fun and imagination. A series of works printed and dyed on Japanese paper (Washi), such as “Uncle’s Bald Hill” and “The Taken Out of Echigo” were hanging on both sides of the corridor in the gallery. At the end of the corridor is a screening space. The video work “Katsushika Hokusai: Creating the Universe from a Four-and- a-half mat Room” is about Hokusai’s life on four and a half tatami mats, even though he was poor, ha always insisted on painting. This kind of scene is powerful.

In the “Doraemon” exhibition held by Mori Art Museum, Shiriagari Kotobuki’s art works is also impressive with his unique and humorous personality. Doraemon became slack, Nobita looked more triumphant, and the video work was framed and hung on the wall. It is no exaggeration to say that among the works of about 40 contemporary Japanese artists, the only one I still remember is Shiriagari Kotobuki’s work.

Shiriagari Kotobuki likes to perform improvisation ink installation. He did it at The Yokohama Museum of Art and other overseas exhibitions, his performance art ends with ink installation, which is full of visual impact.

When Shun Art Gallery Shanghai held his solo exhibition in 2018, audiences who came from all over the country gathered together, including his early comic fans and fans of today’s art works and art collectors, some of the audience bursted into tears when they saw Mr. Shiriagari. At that time, he also created an improvisation ink installation in one of the spaces. The ink installation at that time will also be exhibited in Shiriagari Kotobuki’s solo exhibition in Shun Art Gallery Tokyo this time.

I’m very excited to be able to hold the “A little bit things until now ――Mini Retrospective Exhibition of Shiriagari Kotobuki ” at a Shun Art Gallery Tokyo this time to show the changes of Mr. Shiriagari’s creation so far. I almost yelled “Wow” in my heart.

Looking back at the upcoming 2020, it may be a tough year for everyone. At the end of 2019, before the outbreak of COVID-19, I rented a large space in Shanghai, but I was trapped in Tokyo while it was being renovated, so in the end, I paid full year’s rent when nothing could be advanced. And some of my friend were forced to stay in a foreign country and cannot return to normal life. News channels around the world reported the death of Diego Maradona: a superstar of the era has fallen; at the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting between Japan and China, it was announced that China-Japan business fast lane would be opened, but in fact, the details of visa conditions to return to Tokyo are still unclear…For me, who has thick lines and forgetful,this is extremely tough time for me, but in order to avoid negligence, I must act carefully and consider everything thoroughly.

The prevalence of vocabulary and images such as “beautiful witch”, frozen age, and reverse growth shows that society is resisting “degeneration” and continues to pursue “youngness” in mainstream popular culture. But Shiriagari Kotobuki dare to portray “degeneration.” So I hope everyone can experience the profound philosophies of his works while feeling the humor and interest. The end of “degeneration” is “death” that everyone will eventually reach. So far I think artworks that cannot face and portray the “life and death issue” are actually meaningless.

I am looking forward to the upcoming solo exhibition of Shiriagari Kotobuki. At the end of this year that’s full of anxiety and hardship, I hope this exhibition will bring you some healing or a smile at the end of 2020. Let’s try to completely immerse ourselves in the relaxed and lovely, “funny” but sophisticated world of Shiriagari Kotobuki, and forget all the troubles for now…

On the last day of November at Shanghai studio by Shun