KO-HEY! ARIKAWA
Japanese artist Ko-Hey! Arikawa, M.F.A. in Art Environment, Kyoto University of the Arts.
Spending his childhood in Okinawa with a big family and life in the Americanized culture of Okinawa after the reversion to mainland Japan seemed very bright to Arikawa, who has a complicated upbringing. This experience is the root of the “sense of happiness” expressed in Arikawa’s works.
Arikawa, who began his career by painting and selling artworks on the street, has held the large-scale solo exhibition “Ko-Hey! Arikawa EXPO®︎” every year since 2005, attracting over 12,000 visitors during the exhibition period with a long-standing following among visitors of all ages. His representative work, “BEST FRIENDS Matthew kun,” a boy with red hair, has become an icon known by all, building bridges between people through various projects in Okinawa and other parts of Japan.
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