Soggettiva Gallery opens on Wednesday, January 3 with a tribute to Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest masters of animation cinema of all time, whose latest effort by Studio Ghibli “The Boy and the Heron” will be released in Italian cinemas on January 1, 2024, distributed by Lucky Red.
From January 16, the exhibition will be enriched thanks to a deepening linked to the East in a broad sense, a world still far away that never ceases to fascinate us in every aspect, from calligraphy to iconic images such as “The Great Wave of Kanagawa” by Hokusai.
From Wednesday, January 3 2024
“MY NEIGHBOR MIYAZAKI AND THE FAR EAST”
Soggettiva Gallery presents, from Wednesday, January 3, 2024, the new exhibition MY NEIGHBOR MIYAZAKI AND THE FAR EAST, a tribute to the extraordinary filmography of the Japanese director, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, wide-world reference point for for animation film lovers.
THE ARTWORKS
The exhibition collects – in conjunction with the release at the cinema of “The Boy and the Heron”, the new film by Miyazaki that has beaten every record by earning, in its first weekend, more than 11 million dollars in Japan and almost 13 million dollars in the United States – the Alternative Movie Posters of international artists and illustrators who see the Japanese master as a fundamental source of inspiration for their artistic production.
STUDIO GHIBLI ONE LOVE
The works on display will throw new light on the great titles by Studio Ghibli such as “Spirited Away” – huge commercial success with more than 400 million dollars earned –, reinterpreted through the garish shades of blue, red and light blue by the Belgian artist Mainger and through metaphysical atmospheres by the American architect Bailey Race. “Ponyo” is represented by the kaleidoscope and whirlwind work by Chris Koeler, while Zi Xu presents us “Princess Mononoke“, a choral portrait of magical creatures and masks typical of the Japanese tradition.
Among Miyazaki’s films to which the public is most attached is “My Neighbor Totoro“: on display there will be Jordan Bolton‘s versions, in the highly detailed and obsessive version dedicated to the “props” and the one by Le Nevralgie Costanti, which offers a sweet and iridescent representation of Totoro exclusively for Soggettiva Gallery.
THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE FAR EAST
From 16 January the exhibition will be expanded thanks to a rich selection of works that refer to the myth of the East, the gravitational center of a poetics that is still today the object of great fascination on the part of the Western public, also for its ability to reflect a an image that is often far from the West’s perception of itself.
Two clear examples are Miyazaki’s films such as “Porco Rosso” and “Howl’s Moving Castle“: the work by Fabiocs, which portrays the protagonist on board his airplane – Miyazaki’s father was an aeronautical engineer – is emblematic of the former, while of the second, two dreamy versions by the famous engraver Dan Grissom will be exhibited.
A BITTER-SWEET MIX
Among the elements that most attracted the attention of the artists on display were the different and highly sought-after oriental handwritings. In fact, there are various Alternative Movie Posters that combine the imagery of great classics of Western cinema with the use of words written with Chinese, Japanese or Korean alphabets.
Among the most representative works of this genre are those created by the American collective Rucking Fotten, known for the very limited periods with which it makes its works available: 8 titles by them will be exhibited, including “A Clockwork Orange“, “Warriors of the Night” ” and “Rosemary’s Baby.”
WHEN JAWS MEETS HOKUSAI
Another trend is to create a mix, and therefore a short circuit, between Western and Eastern imagery: among the works on display “Ninja Star Wars” by Steve Bialik, the version of “Jaws” reinterpreted by Mark Bell – in which the shark merges with one of the most famous images in the world, the woodcut by the Japanese painter Hokusai entitled “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” -, or even the works of Jed Henry, a fine illustrator who uses only handmade Japanese paper: his two versions of “Star Wars” and “Spirited Away”.
JAPANESE MONSTERS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Also on display are masterpieces of Japanese animation and comics that have been revisited and transformed into Alternative Movie Posters: this is the case of “Godzilla“, seen through the eyes of Max Dalton and, exclusively for Soggettiva Gallery, of Francesco Casolari from Bologna; The refined works of renowned artists such as the Van Orton and the American Anthony Petrie, fascinated by topographies and maps, are dedicated to “Akira“.
THE CLASSICS AT LAST
Finally, we could not miss the classical Japanese cinema such as Akira Kurosawa (on display a work by BRVM inspired by “Drunken Angel“) and Yasujiro Ozu (the Frenchman Tom Haugomat focused on “Tokyo Story“) but also more recent masters of oriental cinema: the illustrator Silvia Cocomazzi has worked for Soggettiva Gallery on Wong Kar-wai’s films, while other artists have chosen to rework the films of South Korean directors such as Bong Joon-ho (“Parasite”, “The Host”, “Memories of a Murderer”“) and Park Chan-Wook (“Oldboy“).
INFO
SOGGETTIVA GALLERY
Via Pasquale Sottocorno 5/A, 20122 Milano
3357722437 – 3458463222
Opening hours:
dal Tuesday to Friday: 10 –20.30
Saturday and Sunday 10-13.30 / 16-19.30
