Andy
As a part of the Children of this Planet show, Hikari Shimoda x Artelli is giving collectors a chance to own Resin Sculpture Set which includes “Lonely-Hero” x “Unico-Kun” x “Mememto Mori” x “Magical Girl” x “Cloud” x “Star” x “Obake” which are all seriously limited. Artelli, the Group’s pioneering multi-dimensional premium art space, has officially opened in Zhangyuan, Shanghai. As a part of the opening, the new collection by contemporary Japanese artist Hikari Shimoda, Children of this Planet, is being showcased simultaneously in Shanghai, Macau and Taiwan for the first time.
Zhangyuan, where Artelli in Shanghai is located, is a famous cultural landmark in China. It is a renowned classical garden in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, once a luxurious residential area in the heart of the city during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and one of the earliest Western-style gardens in Shanghai. This area is located in the business center of Nanjing West Road Station, with over three million people passing through every day. Hikari Shimoda’s new series, Children of this Planet, will have its global debut in Artelli in Zhangyuan, Shanghai, and then be presented to art and fashion lovers at City of Dreams in Macau and Taipei’s Xinyi A13. This is her second time showcasing her work in China, following her solo exhibition in Hong Kong in 2019.
WHEN: NOW
WHERE: https://www.artelli-meta.com
PRICE: £748.00
| Hikari Shimoda is also introducing for the first time 15 cm-sized small sculptures with exquisite, perfectly-fitting parts that showcase a high level of craftsmanship. Shimoda creates multiple characters in this series, including those from human world, heaven and hell. Even though these characters belong to a fantasy world, surrounded by a complex and changeable environment and different scenarios, they all strive to remind audiences to maintain the energy and spirit of moving forward. Hikari Shimoda has also presented sculptures and bronze sculptures in different sizes, prints using electroluminescent (EL) technology, and diffusers to the viewing. |
| On tour now:“Children of this Planet” – Shanghai Date: 4/24/2023 – 5/24/2023 Venue: No. 588, Weihai Road, Lane 588, Zhangyuan W1, Jingan District, Shanghai “Children of this Planet” – Macau Date: 4/26/2023 – 6/20/2023 Venue: The Showroom, City of Dreams, Estrada do Istmo, Cotai, Macau “Children of this Planet” – Taiwan Date: 5/1/22023 – 5/28/2023 Venue: 1/F, Far Eastern Department Stores, A13 Xinyi District, TaipeiFor audiences interested in the viewing and art collections, they can follow Artelli’s official WeChat account or visit official website: www.artelli-meta.com for more information. |
Find Hikari Shimoda at http://hikarishimoda.com/ and Instagram.
ABOUT
Sparkling and sweet, Hikari Shimoda’s work is at once enchanting and disarming, portraying a world where cuteness and horror coexist. Based in Nagano, Japan, Shimoda first studied illustration at the prestigious Kyoto Saga University of Art and Aoyama Juku School before beginning her career as a professional contemporary artist in 2008. Soon after, she was selected for her first solo exhibition at Motto Gallery in Tokyo and has since held exhibitions in galleries worldwide, including Japan, the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Inspired by the Japanese manga and anime from her youth, Shimoda’s work expresses modern day issues in colorful and illustrative techniques. Often depicting starry-eyed children, she dresses her characters in heroic costumes resembling Superman and magical girls, an anime sub-genre of young girls who uses magic, revealing problems and struggles in contemporary society through a juxtaposition of brushwork, text, and collage. Such characters are a commentary on Christianity’s anointment of Jesus Christ as a savior of humanity, and a mirror of our fantasy heroes. They also represent our adult desire to nurture the children of the world and to defend the world we have constructed.
Following the Great East Japan Earthquake and accident of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, Shimoda became increasingly interested in various connections in the world. In her portrait series “Whereabouts of God”, featuring other-worldly children adorned with a Chernobyl necklace, and “Children of This Planet”, children act as a blank canvas for what she describes as countless possibilities; where fantasy meets with reality, past meets future, life meets death, and a world that is yet to be reborn. Not only do eyes communicate each character’s personality, they are also a reflection of Shimoda’s own feelings and ideas:
“They are “anyone” who just exists. So, they could also exist beyond the realm of being children, and identify with anyone who might appreciate them. Those children who are wearing a vacant expression of despair and solitude are mirroring the emotions of the people who look at them. Those vacant children are, so to speak, “cups of my emotions”- something which I could pour my emotion into. Their sparkling eyes are staring into space, while reflecting both light and darkness, and those horns are a metaphor of wordless emotions like fury and despair that people feel towards unreasonable things in this world.” With each new piece, Shimoda advances her search for salvation and her deeper understanding of this chaotic world. – hikarishimoda.com
