Kawakami's Art: Creating Unique Worlds Through Print

Born in Tokyo in 1977, Kawakami's work bridges art and design. While drawing inspiration from "Japan's unique aesthetic principles," such as the ink wash paintings and tea ceremony of the Azuchi-Momoyama period, he has also presented numerous pieces that fuse advanced printing techniques and technologies, which have rapidly digitized in recent years.

Beyond his role as an artist creating unprecedented art, Kawakami also heads 'artless Inc.,' a company specializing in branding consulting. Alongside specialists with expertise in fields ranging from exhibitions to architecture, he engages in activities unbound by genre or category.

This exhibition features Kawakami's representative works, which, despite being prints, achieve a unique worldview by incorporating elements like the intentional imperfections of fading and aging, created using gold and silver leaf and Japanese paper specially produced by artisans at 'Hakuichi,' a long-established gold leaf maker in Kanazawa. Additionally, alongside these completed works, art books and posters exhibited at the 'KANSEI' exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2009, will also be displayed and sold.

Kawakami's art, a fusion of tradition and modern techniques, evokes a sense of space, emptiness, air, wind, temperature, humidity, and the subtle shifts of time. His artworks, brought to life by his distinctive aesthetic and contemporary technology, offer a surprising and new perspective on the value of art.

'shun kawakami, between art and design'
Dates: Tuesday, June 24 – Thursday, July 10
Hours: 7:00 AM – 2:00 AM
Venue: Daikanyama T-Site
17-5 Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel. 03-3770-2525