Takashi Murakami and Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine today announced a special pop-up group exhibition organized to coincide with the second edition of the Seattle Art Fair. The exhibition, entitled Juxtapoz x Superflat, will be on view at Vulcan’s 3,000-square-foot flexible concept space, Pivot Art + Culture, from August 4 – 7, 2016 and will feature work by over 23 artists, spanning from the underground to the heart of the international art scene.
The works in the gallery above will not necessarily be in the exhibition, but are examples of the artist's work.
Following in the footsteps of Murakami’s previous curatorial efforts—Superflat (2000, Nagoya Parco Gallery, LA MOCA, Walker Art Center, Henry Art Gallery), Coloriage (2002, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain), and Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture (2006, Japan Society)—the exhibition will continue to expand Murakami’s Superflat theory by conflating art, subculture, and a range of divergent genres within a single space. Murakami and Juxtapoz Editor-in-Chief Evan Pricco conceived the exhibition as a survey of the most exciting visual artists to emerge in recent years, with a heavy emphasis on artists who operate outside of the central hubs of the global art world. Pricco’s selection of artists’ works will be shown alongside a similar selection chosen by Murakami, featuring artists from his Kaikai Kiki stable and other established names.
“Over the past 22 years, Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine has documented the creative life through underground art and street culture,” remarks Evan Pricco. “In recent years, with the increasing popularity of contemporary art, Juxtapoz has become the staple for accessible communication of emerging art forms, contemporary art, design, fashion, and graffiti. The magazine's focus is a literal flattening of high and low cultures. In discussions with Takashi Murakami, Juxtapoz has curated a selection of artists covered in the magazine over the past two decades that encompass both growth and expansion in the sub-cultures they emerged from: skate, surf, graffiti, street art, comics, design, illustration, painting, and digital and traditional arts.”
Murakami himself commented: “It has now been 16 years since my original Superflat exhibition. At the time, I concentrated on Superflat as a phenomenon which had spread in Japan but since then, we have seen it take root all over the world and I felt it was time for a sequel. I have always been a fan of Juxtapoz but especially since my co-curator on this show, Evan Pricco, took over editorial duties, I have felt a similarity in our approach and hoped that together we would be able to create a true happening.”
Artists selected to appear in the show by Murakami include: Chiho Aoshima, Urs Fischer, Kim Jung Gi, Kazunori Hamana, James Jean, JH Kagaku, Friedrich Kunath, Takashi Murakami, Kazumi Nakamura, Otani Workshop, Mark Ryden, David Shrigley, Katsuya Terada, a selection from Toilet Paper Magazine, Yuji Ueda, Yuji Ueno, He Xiang Yu, and Zoer & Velvet. Artists selected by Pricco include Trenton Doyle Hancock, Todd James, Austin Lee, Rebecca Morgan, Elisabeth Higgins O’Connor, Paco Pomet, Parra, Christian Rex van Minnen. Erin M. Riley, Devin Troy Strother, Sage Vaughn, and Ben Venom.
The exhibition, planned to coincide with the Seattle Art Fair, aims to build upon the attention on Seattle’s growing art scene. As part of these efforts, a reception, complete with live music by (artist TBA), will be held on Friday, August 5th at the main gallery from 7 PM. Seattle Art Fair will also provide transportation from the CenturyLink Field Event Center to the Vulcan campus.
This pop-up presentation follows Pivot Art + Culture’s current exhibition, Imagined Futures: Science Fiction, Art, and Artifacts, which is on view through July 10, 2016.
Location
609 Westlake Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
Ground floor of the Allen Institute building on Westlake between Mercer and Broad in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle
