Intro
Hiroki Otsuka: Ero-Pop Art
Brooklyn-based Japanese artist Hiroki Otsuka "is undergoing an exciting shift in his career, and looking at his recent output, he is doing so with great ease and acumen. A Manga illustrator for the past thirteen years with a strong penchant for the erotic storylines of pornographic manga aimed at straight Japanese men, Otsuka has shifted gears and is now producing deeply disturbing paintings based on the unstable nature of sexuality in contemporary Japan."
After spending a few years in Tokyo, Otsuka, like many other Japanese artists, went abroad, living in San Francisco, and currently in New York, where he has worked for the Takashi Murakami studio and exhibited with such artists as Yoko Ono and Yasunao Tone. He has recently executed large-scale murals for the Japan Society (NY) and exhibited at the MOCA Museum in LA, Pittsburgh University Art Gallery and Berlin's Kunstraum Richard Sorge.
In his drawings and paintings, Otsuka makes an elegant transition from Manga to erotic Fine Art, applying intriguing gender twists to his uninhibited explorations of sexuality. Warhol Museum curator and Japanese modern art expert Eric C. Shiner has written: "Otsuka's works delve into our own experiences of the carnal; whether straight, gay, trans-gendered or otherwise, these works speak to the diversity of sexuality."
Not only the Manga, but also the Ukyo-e tradition are taken up in Otsuka's work, as are a Warhol-like seriality and the Manga-related Cosplay phenomenon. The expected "kawaii" (cute) elements are pushed into the eerie, hollow and grotesque in his murals and works on paper. Trans-gender and trans-species, the figures tend to be obsessed with brands, even seeming to be branded themselves.
Hiroki Otsuka acted as Mangaka-in-Residence (comic book illustrator) artist-in-residence at Japan Society NYC during its spring 2010 exhibition Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters: Japanese prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the Arthur R. Miller Collection. Taking the mass-produced color woodblock prints of late period Ukiyo-e master and forerunner of Manga Utagawa Kuniyoshi as his vantage point, Otsuka created an original full-length manga, often working onsite visible to visitors.
Artist Statement
I'm interested in the ability of images to convey emotions and abstract concepts. I've been creating drawing, painting, silkscreen and even Manga (Comics) whose underlying theme is entertaining
people and conveying something of the essence of living freely, easily and vividly through my works.
I use personal experiences, or experiences and stories passed on from my friends to inspire my work. Whenever I hear these, I let my imagination run wild. I remix these into stories and create my own original story in my mind. Through drawing Manga, which is more like storytelling of my world of imagination to readers, I'd like open up doors for them to share my imaginative world and also stimulate the experiences that I had. It's also extremely important that through my artwork I encourage audiences to 'be free' and encourage them to be an individual, to be who they want to be, to "live courageously and free".
I grew up reading Manga like all youngsters in Japan, although I was obsessed with reading them and submerging myself in the realm of imagination. Ever since then, I have devoted a great deal of time studying how to draw Manga from reading how-to books and numerous Japanese comics. I finally became a "Manga-ka" (cartoonist) by debuting as an "Ero-Manga-ka" (pornographic comic artist).
I always draw the pictures on a sketchbook just using a black pen, which is a basic Manga technique. As simple as this sounds, I believe that so much information can be conveyed with just one line. The spontaneity of lines is my identity. It shows how I have been inspired and mirrors my state of mind and energy flow. It's all about me. Lines are the most significant aspect of my works, even more important than what I draw. The slightest change in lines can create a totally different meaning when you examine them closely.
Currently, I am attempting to draw more freely than I ever have, experimenting with new styles and using different equipment such as using computers, playing multicolor and graphic patterns or drawing on canvas with a pencil. In addition, I'm trying to create art works without sticking to former way of drawing rules, manuals or styles I learnt through Manga.
I get the most pleasure and feel most alive when I am drawing. It makes my pulse race and gives me such inspiration that I will always continue to explore my imaginative world and put them into works.
CV
Education
1994 Tokyo Designer Gakuin, Aichi, Japan. Certificate of Graphic Design, Layout design, drawing, and painting.
1992 Nagahama High School of Business, Shiga, Japan Concentration in Textile business studies
Professional Experience
2010 Mangaka-in-Residence at Japan Society, NYC
2007 REAL fashion magazine, column writer
2006 REAL fashion magazine, column writer
2005 AB/OVO catalog, contributing artist
2004-05 Writer / Illustrator (comic pages), Hi-5 Magazine, Badi Magazine, Rabumani Magazine, Erotics Magazine, Yarouze!! Magazine, Tokyo pop, written by Morisane Sunny Shiroyama and Naomi Banno (April 2004)
2003-04 Studio Technician (Internship), KaiKai Kiki / Takashi Murakami Art Studio, Brooklyn, NY
1994-2005 Hiroki Otsuka Productions, Tokyo, Japan
Illustrator of ten original comics
2009 S-magazine, illustrations
2006 "Boys of Summer Vol. 1" Chuck Austen / Hiroki Otsuka - Published by Tokyo Pop, USA
2005 "The Girls Diary," Adult-themed comic published by Heiwa shyppan. 9,000 copies.
2004 "Last Pirontan," Adult-themed comic published by Heiwa shyppan. 15,000 copies.
2002 "Hoshu Jugyo" A Supplementary Lesson, published by T.I.Net Inc. 20,000 copies.
2002 "Shucho Boy Igari-kun"A Hustler Igari-kun adult-themed comic published by Wani-MagazineInc. 10,000 copies.
2001 "Pirontan 21" Adult-themed comic published by Wani-Magazine Inc. 13,000 copies.
2000 "Nampa de Go!" Let's pick boys up! Comic targeted towards teen-age girls published by Takarajima Inc. 15,000 copies.
2000 "I Love Shock!" Comic targeted towards teen-age girls published by Takarajima Inc. 15,000 copies.
Selected Museum Exhibitions
2007 "Making a Home" Japan Society, Manhattan, NY
2007 "Nothing Moments" Moca museum, LA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009 Everything to More, Murals & Drawings, Kunstraum Richard Sorge, Berlin
2008 "My Childhood Story", Excy Laser Tokyo¬, New York, NY
2005 JAPORN "Celebrating Japanese pornographic comics", STUDIO CONNECT, Brooklyn, NY
2005 "HIROKI OTSUKA", Stay Gold Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2009 "Making faces: Depiction of women in Japan from Edo to Today" Pittsburgh University Art Gallery, curated by Eric Shiner, the Milton Fine Curator of Art at the Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
2008 "Talent Preview '09" White Box, NY
2007 Featured by MEM gallery at Asian Contemporary Art Fair, NY
2007 "YADOYA" Yadoya Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2006 "The Outsider" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 "Fruitcake & Casserole" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 "Pleasure Little Treasure" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 Featured by Fredericks Freiser Gallery at Volta art fair in Basel, Switzerland
2006 Featured by Fredericks Freiser Gallery at the Armory Show, NY
2006 MOLESKINE group show, Keibunsha, Kyoto
2006 "AB OVO" Arena 1, Santa Monica
2005 "Keep a breast" Macbeth event, Stay Gold Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2005 MOLESKINE group show, Kinokuniya, Roppongi,Tokyo
2005 "8" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2005 "Viva! Stay gold" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2005 AB/OVO, Yerba Buena Arts Center, San Francisco, CA
2004 Parakeet Salon #2, Parakeet Project Space, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Exhibit.001, OLS&CO Gallery, London, UK
Bibliography
Making a Home: Japanese Contemporary Artists in New York
, Japan Society Series, Yale University Press, New Haven, New England, 2007.
Artist Website
www.hirokiotsuka.com
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Kunstraum Richard Sorge, Landsberger Allee 54, Old Brewery, 10249 Berlin-Friedrichshain
Email: richard.sorge (at) nym.hush (dot) com
Homepage: http://www.kunstraumrichardsorge.org