Yusuke Hanai’s ‘Perseverance’ Explores How We Get Back Up
Opening at Pace Prints on November 14.
Summary
- Pace Prints will open the first New York exhibition by Japanese artist Yusuke Hanai
- Perseverance explores themes of resilience and overcoming in everyday life
- In addition to the showcase, Pace Prints is also releasing a new print edition by the artist available exclusively through the publisher
Japanese artist Yusuke Hanai is set to make his New York debut with a suite of new works on paper going up at Pace Prints. Alongside the exhibition, Pace Prints will also be releasing a new edition by the artist created during his time at the publisher’s atelier.
Fusing a ’60s countercultural feel with the aesthetics retro-Americana surf culture, Hanai’s graphic style is unmissable. The upcoming showcase, titled Perseverance, centers wry yet tender scenes of resilience, while introducing a new painting technique for the artist. By stretching sheets of paper over wooden panels, and using gouache for rich tones and thick linework, the resulting effect brings a comic-esque element to Hanai’s already cartoonish figures, and gives the floor to happy accidents of color and form.
Anchored by a “we all fall down and get back up” attitude, a mentality that the artist and devoted surfer knows well, the exhibition explores everyday expressions of its titular “perseverance,” and the ability to overcome through individual or collective action. In “Face,” a fellow surfer reluctantly returns to the tide right after being knocked down by a wave, while “Team Up” shows humans and animals standing in solidarity with one another. “In Hanai’s work there is always harmony to be found,” the gallery wrote, “but only after pushing through the chaos with an open heart and fierce determination.”
The exhibition will open on November 14 and will remain on view through December 20.
Pace Prints
536 W 22nd St,
New York, NY 10011
