.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Born in 1971 in Tokyo, Tokuhiro Kawai graduated in 1995 from the oil paintings department at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and in 1997 he graduated with a master's degree from the same university. He has held several solo exhibitions in Japan and a group exhibition at the Mori Art Museum in 1997, where he was an award recipient, and at Setsuryosya Firenze in 1999. In 2006 he took part at a group exhibition at Kabutoya Gallery, Tokyo, as well as being involved in numerous exhibitions at Art Fair Tokyo since 2008.
The works of Tokuhiro Kawai always conjure whimsical and phantasmical stories of the likes of the Aesop and Anderson, the Grimm brothers' fairy; each of his painting entails a particular story that draws viewers to its details and its numerous fascinating characters, which encompass from within so vivaciously and vividly. In Symbiotic Relationship - Automatic Duel (Lot 557) Kawai's floating angels behold the younglings lopsided in the sky, with the younglings' swords closely opposed at each other in which this composition have a nuanced affiliation with the angelic wall mural of The Creation of Adam at the Sistine Chapel (Fig. 1) from the Renaissance. Kawai's attempt to reinvigorate Renaissance style of painterly technique by imbuing myth, legend and fantasy has defined a unique sense of visual style that is both intriguing and refreshing in the field of Japanese contemporary art. Each of Kawai's painting is the blackboard to his imaginary filmstrip that allows his liberal expression to be realised into a magnificent vista that arouses viewer with curiosity and delight.
The works of Tokuhiro Kawai always conjure whimsical and phantasmical stories of the likes of the Aesop and Anderson, the Grimm brothers' fairy; each of his painting entails a particular story that draws viewers to its details and its numerous fascinating characters, which encompass from within so vivaciously and vividly. In Symbiotic Relationship - Automatic Duel (Lot 557) Kawai's floating angels behold the younglings lopsided in the sky, with the younglings' swords closely opposed at each other in which this composition have a nuanced affiliation with the angelic wall mural of The Creation of Adam at the Sistine Chapel (Fig. 1) from the Renaissance. Kawai's attempt to reinvigorate Renaissance style of painterly technique by imbuing myth, legend and fantasy has defined a unique sense of visual style that is both intriguing and refreshing in the field of Japanese contemporary art. Each of Kawai's painting is the blackboard to his imaginary filmstrip that allows his liberal expression to be realised into a magnificent vista that arouses viewer with curiosity and delight.