On January 12 until February 17, 2019 A2Z Art Gallery present a solo exhibition with Takashi Hara entitled Pig Nation—A story of Humanity at their Hong Kong space to coincide with the Zodiac year of the Pig which will be celebrated on February 5th 2019. A2Z Art Gallery is also exhibiting a solo exhibition with the artist in Paris in February 2019 as part of the Japonsime program.

Takashi Hara's porcelain show a deep emotional connection with humanity, positioning his symbolic pig characters in settings that unsettle the dust on some situations shedding light onto others and causing a deeper level of audience engagement.

Each artwork is created with a unique pig character. Gestural, abstract expressionistic portraits and surrealist paintings and sculptures work together so that each individual pig has it's own DNA like characteristics, personalisation's, unique features, colour speckles body shape or gurative forms. The pigs are imperfect; in terms of setting and foreshortening the artist opts for abstraction and naturalistic application to his technique echoing the reality that life is also not perfect and neither is society.

Takashi Hara is extremely con dent with his creative process, on occasion the use of paintbrush is abandoned in order to devise unorthodox textures, utilising nger painting techniques that allow him to manipulate the materials allowing for layers and dimensions of guration that would otherwise not be achievable. The distortion of the Suidae subjects serves to capture the audience's insight and interpretation of the artworks portrayal.

As with the Surrealists who sought to channel the unconscious, Takashi refuses to be weighed down by taboos. The power of his personal imagination that dreams up topical narratives and the scenes he creates for the pig gures to explore draws us all along on their journey with them.

Press release courtesy A2Z Art Gallery.