Kito Kengo's work has been called Biopop for being organic, his use of many colors, and for having a pop-esque structure. His work is representative of the 21st century art scene. Biopop is a vigorous style of art that interjects sub-cultural noise with the cool restraint of the city, revealing the complexity, chaos, vitality of nature and the biological world that we identify with jungle trees and viruses.
Kito has produced many eclectic works of art. In one, hoola hoops were linked together to form a fantastical, outer space like piece. In another, Inconsistent Surface, a huge piece of colorful cloth was blown upwards by a fan to create an illusion of a wavy sea. Kito, by working with everyday mass produced objects such as hoola hoops, scarfs, fans, shampoo, chains, mirrors, rubber bands, and umbrellas, creates a unique piece where a new time-space continuum is formed.
Though he uses everyday objects, his installations transcends the mundane-ness of their nature and subdues the audience with the piece’s dizzying magnificence. The magnificence of his work – the intentionally and obnoxiously colorful spectacle and bigger than life portrayals, rather than suggesting a spectacular world as expressed superficially, presents a world that is empty within. His art reflects the consumerist society of today obsessed with what the eye beholds.
Kito Kengo, born 1977 in Nagoya, graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts. He is now living in Berlin where he works on his pieces. He came on to the scene as one of the most highly-recognized young artists with the private exhibition held in Tokyo Modern Arts Museum in 2007 and the Young Artists of Japan Exhibition in the same year.
Press release courtesy Wooson Gallery.