Masato Mori to Showcase Raw, Childlike Sculptures at Art Basel Miami Beach 2019
Inspired by various manga and video games from the ’80s.
As Art Basel Miami Beach 2019 quickly approaches, NANZUKA has announced that Japanese artist Masato Mori will hold a solo booth at the highly-anticipated event. As part of Art Basel’s Nova sector, which allows galleries to present one to three artists showing works created within the last three years, NANZUKA will present Mori’s never-before-seen pieces, including his latest sculptural works.
Inspired by the raw, brutalist paintings of Dubuffet and the simplistic forms of Picasso and Paul Klee, Mori creates works that touch on themes of “innocence and mindless absorption in art.” Mori has created a unique aesthetic inspired by the manga, video games, and animations that dominated his childhood in the ’80s. Highlights of the exhibition include his sculptural works that are imbued with vibrant colors and childlike humor. Boasting gritty, textural surfaces, the sculptures reference characters from comic books and games.
Similarly, Mori’s colorful paintings draw from the artist’s background, as he began drawing by copying popular comic book characters. He uses a pen tablet to create the base of his drawings and completes the works by three-dimensionally overlaying paint onto the images after he has transferred them onto canvases. His paintings reflect “an air of heaviness reminiscent of outsider art,” while he explores the different relationships that serve as the root of his creative activities.
Take a look at select works from Mori’s solo booth at Art Basel’s Nova sector in the gallery above. Art Basel Miami Beach 2019 will run from December 5 to 8.
Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Dr
Miami Beach, FL 33139
For more from the upcoming art show, Allouche Gallery will exhibit over 30 works by George Condo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and more.
