Naritateru — Trash Isles — A Solo Show

PRESS RELEASE

Hikaru Narita
Trash Isles
Curated By Geraud Jean–Claude
The Waluso Gallery, 63 Hanbury Street, E1 5JP
15th October — 28th October 2020 **SOLD OUT**

Hikaru Narita’s new show at The Waluso Gallery, ‘Trash Isles,’ a journey
of blurred and semi coherent, yet fully present nostalgia. Narita’s
signature style, a painting technique that mimics airbrushed design,
evokes simultaneous knowledge of the iconic figures that he paints, but
also apprehension in clarity, as the images often hover just out of sight
of full perception. The artist explains that:

‘Things that have left the hands of the man move across the land and
eventually disappear through incineration. After being freed from the
objects, they may become gas, and shortly afterwards, they may return
to the earth as rain.

The image of floating in space.

This is only part of the story.’

This sentiment is captured in the fragmented narrative that Narita
weaves. His focal images are often known icons; Big Bird, Bugs Bunny,
Darth Vader, but they are not the renditions that an audience is likely to
be familiar with. Almost like a collection from a giants pocket, or a scene
from Toy Story where the characters fall on the spot to avoid detection
from humans, the scenes and set — ups that Narita paints are a paradox.
Colourful and yet muted. Full of movement and yet static. Warm and yet
cold. It is a beautifully balanced — poised to allude to these toys and
objects floating in a vacuum of space and time.

Striking a remarkable resemblance to the rich narrative of T.S Eliot,
fragmentation and haze plays a pivitol role in both artist’s creations.
Eliot would have us believe that there should be Time, Space, and God or
spirituality as a unifying force. The spatiotemporal fragmentation isn’t
his topic, but a mere manifestation of his topic. Upon viewing Hikaru’s
work, the audience is struck by the same set of beliefs. Icons are
reassembled but just out of focus — leading to a deeper, more explorative viewing.