Reflection: An Exhibition Full of Playfulness!

Reflection: An Exhibition Full of Playfulness!

An exhibition titled “Reflection: A Creator’s Vacation” was held in Harajuku from Nov. 13–15, allowing visitors to take a peek into a private aspect of creators through the countless works on display.

Featuring creators, working adults whose names don’t often come up in public, this exhibition focused on expressing the creators’ uniqueness as artists instead as work. It was held for the second time this year with 70 creators participating, many of whom are Tokyo Otaku Mode Special Creators.

The event was held at Design Festa Gallery Harajuku East/West, located in Ura-Harajuku, an area rich in clothing, accessories, and Western apparel shops found in Harajuku, the young people’s district. It is a place for artists leading the next generation to publish their works.

“The Beauty in the Depth of the Forest” by Kosugi. It was made as a shadow box, a handcraft technique popular in 17th century Europe.

The exhibit’s subject this year was “reflection.” As Masafumi Takagi, the art director of DeNA and the creator who made the event’s main visual, explains, “It’s about ‘reflecting’ the techniques you foster with your job in pieces of art you yourself want to draw or make.”

The works on display had immense amounts of effort invested, such as works made with 3D printers or the horror experience area that stimulated all five senses using VR. Illustrations also showed a wide variety, ranging from anime style to serious.

One of the TOM Creators, Saaki. She displayed an illustration featuring a girly girl dressed in Harajuku fashion.

Mika Sawae, an illustrator from the all-girls creator team Tsuku Rujyo. She wanted to make something more than just to be looked at, so she came up with the idea of drawing line stamps of the visitors, allowing them to see her work during the process. She also exhibited other illustrations and 3D replicas of weapons appearing in her works.

“I want to arrange a place where creators can express their individuality more. And to continue organizing this event and raise the scale of the exhibition” - Takagi talks about his hopes for the future.

Reflection

This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article written by Kohji Sakurai and translated by Barbara Tar. Photos by Tetsuya Hara.

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