Fantasista Utamaro / Artist
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Based in New York, he is an artist, creative director, art director and animation director who creates artwork inspired by Japanese pop culture and promotes Japanese culture to the world through his own creations. His infinitely multiplying artworks are installed in all media, and the scope of his activities is not limited to art, but continues to expand borderlessly to include design, fashion and video.
To date, he has collaborated with global brands such as Sanrio, SK-II, Nike, Apple, Google, Uniqlo, GU, Netflix, and SevenEleven, as well as pop artists such as Pharrell Williams, Hatsune Miku, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, and Dempagumi Inc. In recent years, the trailer film for the Tokyo Olympics, produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as art director, won a BAFTA in 2022.
http://www.fantasistautamaro.com
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Ten years have passed since I moved my base of operations to New York with the desire to convey Japanese culture to the world in a higher resolution through my own creations. Although I faced countless hardships in the unfamiliar land of New York, I have continued to work hard on my creative endeavors, supported by the spirit of symbiosis (mutual help) inherent in Japanese culture.
I encouraged myself to be a Japanese artist (self-proclaimed) who competes on the world stage, and I began to think about valuing the long-standing Japanese culture even more, and I thought about contributing to the development of traditional Japanese culture in my daily work. In the midst of all this, I was approached by President Minami of Miyawaki Baisenan about a collaboration between bananas and yellow.
I also learned that fans originated in Japan and spread to the world. Nowadays, they are defined as a tool to beat the heat, but I was deeply moved to learn that they originally existed as a means of communication between people and for letters. I wondered if the roots of the emojis we use every day on our smartphones today can be found in Kyoto fans! Fans once existed as a tool for flexible communication between people.
I was deeply moved to learn that this flexible manner, which could be called the "hospitality" that the Japanese have long cultivated, was born in the form of a folding fan 1,200 years ago and has been passed down throughout the world.
I felt a sense of mission that I had to somehow convey this beautiful culture and context to the modern world, and so I created this artwork with the feeling of dedicating my life to it. Through this project, I would like to convey the philosophy of this long-standing culture to the world along with the folding fans.
This fan was born from the chemistry between the creative eyes of Minami Tadamasa, an avant-garde, unorthodox and extremely creative man in the world of Kyoto folding fans, and the eyes of me, Fantasista Utamaro, who has continued to create unconventional works that have been lived only with passion and love. I hate to say it myself, but this is my greatest work. I hope everyone will pick it up and feel this love. So, head to Kyoto now! OMG!