Exhibition/event has ended.
H. R. Giger + Hajime Sorayama “H. R. Giger × Sorayama”
Parco Museum Tokyo
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H. R. Giger, Hajime Sorayama
This is the first exhibition featuring together the work of Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama and Swiss artist H.R.Giger.
Hajime Sorayama (b. 1947 in Imabari, Ehime prefecture) has established his position as a legendary artist, both within Japan and internationally, for his extensive oeuvre that centers upon an ongoing pursuit of beauty in the human body and the machine. Best known for his precisely detailed, hand-painted portrayals of voluptuous women, obtained through an astoundingly artful use of a wide array of techniques, most prominently airbrush painting. His signature series titled Sexy Robot (1978–), which would be published by Genko-sha in 1983 into a book that has since attained a wildly influential cult status among collectors, marked the first appearance of his erotic android figures clad in shiny chrome metal. The artist’s international recognition is inextricably tied to AIBO, the award-winning robotic pet he designed for Sony in 1999, which is now in the permanent collections of MoMA and the Smithsonian Institute.
Hans Ruedi Giger (1940–2014) was a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer known for his biomechanical creatures, extraterrestrial landscapes, and disturbing sexual machines. In a career that spanned more than five decades, he employed a staggering variety of media, including furniture, movie props, prints, paintings, and sculptures, often creating exhibition displays and total environments with the immersive quality of a wunderkammer—including, most notably, the H.R.Giger Museum in Gruyères. In 1979, his concept design for Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and catapulted to fame his daunting vision of death and futurism.
Born and trained at opposite ends of the world, Sorayama and Giger are apparently at odds—one’s bright colors are swallowed by the other’s dark chiaroscuro; one’s enthusiastic outlook on technology borders with the other’s nightmarish dystopia; one’s “super-realism” challenges the other’s surrealism—yet they share more than meets the eye. Both emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, becoming acknowledged masters of airbrush painting and influential creators beyond the boundaries of the traditional art world, blurring the relationship between commercial and personal work. But more importantly, at the very core of their practice lies a similar concern: an obsessive investigation of AI, eternal life, and the fusion of organic and apparatus. Gynoids (female androids) are predominant subjects, conjuring the post-human and the apotheosis of the woman to reveal an underlying tension between life, death, power, and desire.
Hajime Sorayama (b. 1947 in Imabari, Ehime prefecture) has established his position as a legendary artist, both within Japan and internationally, for his extensive oeuvre that centers upon an ongoing pursuit of beauty in the human body and the machine. Best known for his precisely detailed, hand-painted portrayals of voluptuous women, obtained through an astoundingly artful use of a wide array of techniques, most prominently airbrush painting. His signature series titled Sexy Robot (1978–), which would be published by Genko-sha in 1983 into a book that has since attained a wildly influential cult status among collectors, marked the first appearance of his erotic android figures clad in shiny chrome metal. The artist’s international recognition is inextricably tied to AIBO, the award-winning robotic pet he designed for Sony in 1999, which is now in the permanent collections of MoMA and the Smithsonian Institute.
Hans Ruedi Giger (1940–2014) was a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer known for his biomechanical creatures, extraterrestrial landscapes, and disturbing sexual machines. In a career that spanned more than five decades, he employed a staggering variety of media, including furniture, movie props, prints, paintings, and sculptures, often creating exhibition displays and total environments with the immersive quality of a wunderkammer—including, most notably, the H.R.Giger Museum in Gruyères. In 1979, his concept design for Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and catapulted to fame his daunting vision of death and futurism.
Born and trained at opposite ends of the world, Sorayama and Giger are apparently at odds—one’s bright colors are swallowed by the other’s dark chiaroscuro; one’s enthusiastic outlook on technology borders with the other’s nightmarish dystopia; one’s “super-realism” challenges the other’s surrealism—yet they share more than meets the eye. Both emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, becoming acknowledged masters of airbrush painting and influential creators beyond the boundaries of the traditional art world, blurring the relationship between commercial and personal work. But more importantly, at the very core of their practice lies a similar concern: an obsessive investigation of AI, eternal life, and the fusion of organic and apparatus. Gynoids (female androids) are predominant subjects, conjuring the post-human and the apotheosis of the woman to reveal an underlying tension between life, death, power, and desire.
Schedule | Dec 26 (Sat) 2020-Jan 11 (Mon) 2021 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | ￥1000 | ||||
| Website | https://nug.jp/en/exhibitions/giger-sorayama-2020/press-release | ||||
| Venue | Parco Museum Tokyo https://art.parco.jp/museumtokyo/ | ||||
| Location | 4F Shibuya Parco, 15-1 Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0042 | ||||
| Access | 6 minute walk from the Hachiko exit of JR Shibuya Station. | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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