Shigeo Otake's 'Agoraphilia' at White Cube Hong Kong: Fungal Surrealism and Capitalist Allegory

Japanese artist Shigeo Otake presents 'Agoraphilia,' his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, at White Cube from July 10 to August 29, 2026. The show features surrealist paintings, including the new work 'Myco-Market Day' (2026), which depicts a bustling bazaar populated by fungal hybrids and 'kawaii' characters. Otake's universe of mutant forms originated from his 1985 discovery of a cordyceps fungus growing from a cicada nymph. His paintings, such as 'A Miscalculation by Mycologist H.A.' (1988) and 'The Last Days of the Mobile Fungi Garden' (1993), imagine spores transforming citizens into fungal beings. 'Myco-Market Day,' rendered in tempera and oil on canvas, references Balthus's 'The Street' (1933) and uses the public square as a stage for multiple simultaneous actions. The painting subtly reveals violence and savagery hidden in plain sight, with figures carrying a body and a child stealing from an unsuspecting shopper. The work critiques capitalism by showing how desire obscures the brutality sustaining the market. The exhibition's title derives from the Greek 'agora,' a hub of social, political, and commercial life, and Otake's works turn the marketplace into an allegory of capitalist exploitation. The 71-year-old artist's Ghibli-style characters heighten the dissonance, making disorder appear charming. The exhibition was reviewed by Joyce Lee, an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.