iconic japanese artist Mr. on bridging otaku subculture and fine art at lehmann maupin

‘Beyond the Alley, There…’ at Lehmann Maupin

Iconic Japanese artist Mr. is exhibiting a new body of work at Lehmann Maupin’s New York gallery. On view until April 27, 2022, ‘Beyond the Alley, There…’ presents large-scale paintings and works on paper that immerse viewers in the artist’s many-layered, imaginative worlds. Drawing upon otaku, the increasingly popular Japanese subculture that includes manga comics, anime and video games, his works bring to life cartoonish characters surrounded by pop culture references such as emojis, fast-food logos and slang phrases. One work in the exhibition features a riff on the 7-Eleven logo and a cartoon hamburger decorating a young girl’s barrettes, while in another, a swirl of cartoon icons, social media notifications, and innocuous phrases in brightly colored bubble letters are reflected in a child’s wide eyes.

Other works reflect the artist’s recently heightened interest in layered surfaces and urban spaces, featuring figures with enormous eyes that become integrated into a saturated visual field of graffitied surfaces and storefronts. ‘Everything I create is about my surroundings and the environment around me: from my daily activities, to all the logos and signs in the city, and all sorts of symbols—anything and everything,’ Mr. tells designboom. Despite their imagined nature, the artist’s fictional worlds are rooted in the real, examining how both commercial imagery and desire circulate in global internet culture. in the exclusive video above, Mr. takes viewers on a tour of ‘Beyond the Alley, There…’ at Lehmann Maupin, while he shares more about his practice and influences in our interview below.

INTERVIEW WITH MR.

Born Masakatsu Iwamoto in 1969 in Cupa, Japan, Mr. is particularly well known for his associations with Superflat, a contemporary postmodern Japanese movement founded by artist Takashi Murakami. Like his fellow Superflat artists, Mr. examines and draw from the otaku subculture, which is marked by an obsession with adolescence, manga, anime, and video games. Alongside his interest in otaku is an engagement with the 1960s Italian art movement, Arte Povera and its use of unconventional materials and its reverence for the detritus of everyday life. ‘Beyond the Alley, There…’ marks Mr.’s sixth solo exhibition with Lehmann Maupin, and precedes a highly anticipated forthcoming solo exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum, AZ, opening November 2022.

designboom (DB): What aspects of your background and upbringing have shaped your creative principles and philosophies?

Mr.: I live in Japan where I just eat, sleep, and drink sake. Everything I create is about my surroundings and the environment around me: from my daily activities, to all the logos and signs in the city, and all sorts of symbols—anything and everything.

DB: Your works are often multi-layered, featuring figures, logos, phrases, fragments of urban spaces and more. How do you begin working on a new piece? What is the first decision you make?

Mr.: To start a new work, I use a computer. My work is more than 90% complete on screen, before I go into the physical production. Being able to create on a computer means that multiple staff members can share the data file and proceed to draw and reproduce the composition exactly according to the data. I also use techniques such as silk-screening to faithfully reproduce the data, which is quite effective.

Mr.: ‘Beyond the Alley, There…’  installation view, Lehmann Maupin New York , March 17 – April 23, 2022  | photo by Daniel Kukla  | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London

DB: You have compared yourself to a translator when it comes to otaku culture. What, in your opinion, makes this Japanese subculture so appealing to the international art world?

Mr.: People who are interested in it now are much younger than I am. I’ve heard that people who grew up watching reruns of Japanese anime from the 70s to the 90s, like Grendizer and Dragon Ball in Europe and Asia, and Pokemon in the US, are now getting to a point where they feel nostalgic for these works, so I think they are becoming more and more interested in reconstructing them through visual art.

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DB: What are some of your influences besides otaku?

Mr.: I have always been influenced by Japanese anime, and I also now get inspiration from mountain climbing and mountain worship.

I also find inspiration in The Superflat movement, which is an artistic movement created by Takashi Murakami. To me, the definition of this movement might be slightly different from his (or maybe not!), but I see it as an Oriental or East Asian style that is characterized by using a flat space (2D) that also weaves cultural and historical connotations that inform it, as it goes back to the end of World War II and the birth of Pop Art—after the defeat of Japan during the war.

DB: Can you tell us a few things about the new body of work you are exhibiting at Lehmann Maupin?

Mr.: I think what gets valued artistically in the West and Asia is diverging more and more. While a growing number of artists in the US and Europe are using characters, I believe my style is still rare, specifically in New York. I hope visitors to the gallery will enjoy the work I’ve created.

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Mr., Kumiko – Pink Spring Flowers –, 2021 | Acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel | 2000 x 673 x 51mm © Mr. / Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London