NEO-POP Made in Japan…

 

The studio was created in 2005 by Saori NAKAMISHI and Hiro ANDO with the idea of organizing the creation and promotion of young, neo-pop artists ‘made in Japan’. It soon became apparent to the founders that their plastic language born out of mangas and their kitsch, playful aesthetic reached far beyond the boundaries of the archipelago. Incidentally, FANU (Paris) and Xiao Mei (Peking) joined the team in 2006.

 

Today, The Studio represents 15 artists working from Tokyo to Paris by way of Peking. From its creation to the present day, the founders have maintained total freedom of expression while favoring a collaborative approach to artistic creation. This international and fruitful “daycare” – a veritable artistic enterprise – has created new boundaries that are perhaps disorganized today but which are their own and do not originate in the Fine Arts. The young artists at the studio take their popular culture and incorporate it in their work, bringing it into the “noble culture” and establishing themselves against the elitist art defended by the West.  Although initially inscribed as an echo of the traditional East, the studio’s works – seductive and disturbing all at once – are now clearly a reflection of contemporary society and compose a bittersweet portrait of western society.

 

Hiro ANDO:

 

The great family of Hiro ANDO: sumocats, supercats, robocats, urbancats, samuraicats invade the “studio” and get colors… yellow, red, bue, gold, silver, black or white…

 

Hiro ANDO was born in the Shikoku region of Japan in 1973. After receiving his diploma in Oil Painting, he worked for several design studios before specializing in conception in 1993.

In 1995, he began his career as an illustrator.

His technique consists of elaborating multiple basic sketches before painting them on canvas. He is completely versatile working with oils, digital materials as well as sculpture.