Perrotin Hong Kong presents: solo exhibition by Japanese artist Aya Takano

_{Header image courtesy of the artist and Perrotin Hong Kong}

Perrotin Hong Kong presents a solo exhibition by Japanese artist Aya Takano, marking the artist’s second presentation at the Hong Kong space, since her debut in 2012. In this series of ten paintings and 24 drawings, Aya Takano has created an ode to Hong Kong like no other, capturing its landscapes, its culture and its quirks, in a happy and colourful tribute that puts on display the artist’s intimate affection for the city.

The defiantly ethereal characters that have come to represent Takano’s “superflat” approach to painting and illustration come to life on her canvas and under her pencils, with their huge eyes and endless limbs. In this exhibition, though, they are not intent on a space mission or busy floating in a dreamy Tokyo/outer space scenery. They are right in Hong Kong, playing with kites and dragons; selecting the best goldfish from little plastic bags filled with water next to Prince Edward’s Flower Market; sitting nonchalantly in a chaa chaan teng; or all wrapped up in a plastic raincoat as the monsoon rains wash over the territory. 

In the paintings—mostly large compositions that detail both the actions performed by the characters and the precise backgrounds against which they move—we can see the mountainous profile of the city, with its lush greenery, countless birds, waterfalls and natural pools contrasted with the high-density buildings that dot the landscape, the sea in Victoria Harbour, and the ever-changing subtropical sky, with fluffy clouds in white, grey and pink.