Bartkira Project Launches First Exhibition in Japan at Tokyo's Gallery Hakusen
Gallery Hakusen in Suginami-ku, Tokyo, is hosting the inaugural Japanese exhibition of Bartkira, a non-profit online community art project. This initiative, started in 2013 by Ryan Humphrey and James Harvey, involves recreating over 2,000 pages from Katsushiro Otomo's six-volume sci-fi manga Akira using characters from Matt Groening's The Simpsons. The Tokyo show, running through 21 March, features artwork from volume III, marking the first display of this volume. Previous exhibitions in the USA and UK celebrated the online launches of volumes I and II. All donations and profits from the exhibition will support a tsunami relief fund for Miyagi Prefecture, Otomo's home region, and Save The Children. The project allows open contributions from anyone, with more details available at bartkira.com. A related article by Oliver Basciano on cartoon characters in contemporary art appeared in the January & February 2015 issue of ArtReview.
Key facts
- Bartkira is a non-profit online community art project recreating Katsushiro Otomo's Akira manga with The Simpsons characters.
- The project was initiated in 2013 by Ryan Humphrey and James Harvey.
- The first exhibition in Japan is at Gallery Hakusen in Suginami-ku, Tokyo, through 21 March.
- The exhibition features artwork from volume III, the first display of this volume.
- Previous exhibitions were held in the USA and UK for volumes I and II.
- Donations and profits go to a tsunami relief fund for Miyagi Prefecture and Save The Children.
- The project allows open contributions from anyone.
- An article by Oliver Basciano on cartoon characters in contemporary art was published in ArtReview's January & February 2015 issue.
Entities
Artists
- Katsushiro Otomo
- Matt Groening
- Ryan Humphrey
- James Harvey
- Oliver Basciano
Institutions
- Gallery Hakusen
- Save The Children
- ArtReview
Locations
- Tokyo
- Japan
- Suginami-ku
- USA
- UK
- Miyagi Prefecture