Tokyo-based artist Kawashima Hideaki possesses quite the pedigree, having studied with Neo-Pop icon Nara Yoshitomo and exhibited in New York with Takashi Murakami. Walking through Kawashima's Wandering exhibition at Kukje Gallery in Insadong, however, one senses something missing. While Kawakshima employs the Manga and animation influences of his forebears, the pop and counter-cultural references that a friend once said, "Make a Westerner feel at home in Asia," are completely absent from Kawashima's work, replaced instead by more organic forms (like vegetables and deep sea creatures).
After dulling to the exhibit's array of colors and the slightly varied contexts for Kawashima's decapitated little-girl-heads, one can survey any room at Kukje and notice one thing: eyes. Everything else seems to blur into the background. Kawashima's large, expressive sets of eyes contrast the pale faces of his subjects and their abyss-like surroundings.
If you would like these eyes on your own wall... say, imposed onto a white egg (below), it will cost you 13 million won (US $10,000). And that's Kawashima's smallest canvas (33.3 x 33.3cm)
If you'd prefer to just visit the gallery and leave with the memories, the exhibition continues through March 29th.
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