Upper Playground is excited to announce a partnership with Japanese artist, Usugrow, in the creation of a new line called Shinganist. Derived from the Japanese word “Shingan,” (meaning mind’s eye), “the line represents those people who create by seeing things in their mind’s eye, and are not bothered or influenced by things around them.” Inspired by underground Japanese lifestyle, Shinganist will feature the art of Usugrow, as well as, guest artists.
Upper Playground and Usugrow view the line as a vehicle to introduce a new generation of Japanese artists to the world. No stranger to designing clothing, Usugrow has been running his own Japanese-based clothing line for the past 12 years. His partnership with Upper Playground in the development of Shinganist is his first clothing line in the U.S.
The launch of the line comes along with the release of the book, Shinganist, and the re-release of Love Hate From JP. Shinganist features Usugrow’s art, as well as the art of Mozyskey, Toshikazu Nozaka, Bene and Jun Kaneko. Love Hate From JP sold out and has been re-printed in time for the Shinganist apparel launch. The second printing features a heavier-weight of paper with a slightly glossy finish that makes the images pop off of the page.
Win An Usugrow Original Art Piece
To commemorate the launch of the Shinganist brand, Upper Playground and Hypebeast have teamed up to give someone an original piece by Usugrow. Not only will one lucky person get original Usugrow art, he or she will also receive a copy of Shinganist book, signed by all of the artists whose work is featured in the book.
Head over to the Shinganist brand page to find the answer to “what color t-shirts are offered by Usugrow for his first Shinganist collection?” To enter, go to Twitter.com/Hypebeast and Twitter.com/UpperPlayground, follow us and submit the answer to @hypebeast & @upperplayground with the hashtag #usugrowcontest (i.e. @hypebeast @upperplayground #usugrowcontest ANSWER). You need to be following the Hypebeast and Upper Playground Twitter accounts to be eligible. We will select one winner at random. The contest closes on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 12:01 am EST.
