Artist Johan Peter Hol portrays a world full of closets, attics and boxes full of furry animals, animated cardboard scenes, armies of mice and disquieting drawings. Like a dusty playroom full of abandoned toys, his work creates a slightly grizzly fairy tale.
At first glance Hol's work looks playful and cheerful with an often childlike choice of material (clay, felt, paper, cardboard) and colours. They are presented in a variety of media such as drawing, paper cutout, porcelain, Mickey-headed embalmed animals, installation, animation film, etc. - above all, humanized animals consistently appear.
In his first solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2007 entitled "Forgotten", Hol spotlighted forgotten existence, as a tribute to those who are second-hand, abandoned and covered with dust, and lost to the eye of the world. Hol's work constantly explores what it means to exist outside of a group in society.
"My work is not the book of Truth, neither the book of Light; it's a play room gone wrong, forgotten by its creator. A place ajar where all its confused inhabitants strive for survival in a silent way", says Hol.
In October 2009, Hol presents his new animation film "Gay Squirrel and the Tail/Tale of the Cat on the Moon" in Tokyo and Osaka. The film, telling the tale of a quest for one's own attributes, is set in a closet that contains the universe. For the first time Hol investigates his own sexuality, which has never been dealt with literally in his previous work.
Part of the installation is a three-dimensional 3.5 meter-high Gay Squirrel (Gallery ef) & a 2.8m high Tailless Cat (studio J). Additionally there will be a series of hand painted posters and action figures of the film characters.
4 minute walk from exit 2 at Tawaramachi Station on the Ginza line. 5 minute walk from exit A1 at Asakusa Station on the Toei Asakusa, Ginza or Tobu Isesaki line.
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