Saturday, May 03, 2008

More from the SHINTARO KAGO EXHIBIT

I've gotten a few more things to share from the Shintaro Kago exhibit opening in Amsterdam. I received these via the comments and email-- Thanks to the anonymous folks who sent these along!

The first is a photo of the Kago mural gracing the front windows of the K-Space Gallery.


Second is an English interview with Kago from Amsterdam culture site ondergrond.tv. It also features more footage of the pieces and gallery space.


ENJOY!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, I LOVE HIM!
He looks like the opposite of your typical mangaka, and I love him for this!
I really really wanna know him in person... maybe when I'll fly to Japan...

Anonymous said...

Somehow I feel that his fans on 4chan, gurochan, etc will always be far more devoted and willing to buy English releases/attend US-side exhibitions than the readers of Vice

Anonymous said...

Firstly, anonymous, you are right. Vice is a "hip" magazine, and that's that. They have their finger on the cultural pulse, I guess, but when people start looking elsewhere dedicated fans will always remain.

Also, it strikes me very much how small the international scene for this art is, and how quickly it moves.

The people in Vice picked up Kago and within a very, very, very short time he was invited to Amsterdam *because* of it. In the Amsterdam exhibition anonymous k's scanlation was featured. People who post on this blog were in attendance, to take pictures for this blog. Something tells me this blog could have even had a role in getting VICE's attention for Kago, or else the guys at the Dutch studio found Anonymous's scanlation here.

The internet kills me sometimes. NOW... anybody have any scanlations of Kazuichi Hanawa? That guy is a gorey draftsman in the ukiyo-e tradition :)

Ryan said...

@anonymous k: Yeah, I like the way he comes across here (and in the Vice photo, holding a cute little dog). He was quite a bit younger than I expected for some reason. Dude is awesome...

Ryan said...

@anonymous: Aside from the vice vs. 4chan comment, I definitely believe that folks that read these kinds of scanlations are the very devoted fans that also buy official releases as soon as they become available. I just wish that (in the case of Kago) there'd be a chance to prove that logic true. I guess it is proving true with MPD Psycho and soon enough with GANTZ.

I know of another semi-related type book that potentially will give 4chan/gurochan folks a chance to put their money where their mouths are, but more on that rumor if I hear it's true.

Ryan said...

@cyphane: Thanks for the comment. I definitely agree about how small the scene is, and how weird, cool, cosmopolitan and dynamic the interests of the people in it are-- Through my interests in this stuff, and later through this blog, I'm making friends in Germany, Brasil, Italy, Philippines, Japan, rural USA and other parts of Europe and S. America. It's pretty awesome.

As for the direction and causality of the Kago exhibit, it's worth giving credit where it's due, and I've been told by Vice's editor that it wasn't Same Hat that got them turned on to Kago. It was (in fact) the editor of Vice Japan who is the gonzo manga fan and turned Jesse on to lots of weird manga stuff. It was only after they decided to do the Kago story that he came upon our blog/community here. It was that same editor of Vice Japan that organized and made happen the Amsterdam exhibit. He sounds like a rad dude, and would definitely be at home among the readers here!

That's not to say that Anonymous K's work isn't a key part of all this... I know indirectly that the scanlations have been passed on to manga fans including folks at TCJ, Viz, Vertical, Scott McCloud and many others. So it's partly simple synchronicity, sure, but the main take away for me is that the internet is awesome, and that this is a cool niche that I want to be a part of....

It sounds retarded, but supporting indie publishers as directly as possible by buying books from them (like Tokyo Zombie *AHEM* and Red Colored Elegy or Tori Michi or whatever weirdos you love) seems to be an important way to do it. When they get these things right, hats off to PictureBox, Drawn & Quarterly, Dark Horse, Blast Books, Creation, Last Gasp and, yep, even VICE.

I hear that the next place you'll see most of these AX/GARO manga types will be in another Vice-related publication. More on that as I get details confirmed.

Aw, Cyphane-- you got me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside about indie manga. FRESH.

Anonymous said...

>I know of another semi-related type book that potentially will give 4chan/gurochan folks a chance to put their money where their mouths are, but more on that rumor if I hear it's true.

Dropping hints like this? I need to sleep man! I have college finals.... orz

Anonymous said...

"I know of another semi-related type book that potentially will give 4chan/gurochan folks a chance to put their money where their mouths are, but more on that rumor if I hear it's true."

am I getting you wrong, or are you actually saying that there exsists a possibility that a manga that could be classified as "guro" will be released in english? with wirting this post, I force you violently for MOAR INFORMATION!!!!!111 ...please :}

Ryan S said...

@anonymous & a tree: Okay, I'm being evil by dropping hints. MY APOLOGIES, haha.

No, the book I heard rumors about is not "guro" per se, but something that gurochan/Same Hat folks would be really into... but it's still just a rumor and nothing official, so I don't think there's anything else I can say about it... But if I ever get official word on something like that, You know I'll post it here ASAP!

ps: good luck with finals!

Anonymous said...

This's the first time I see tou work. I have to say that is amazing the way you draw. You made me blind with your atrwork.
:)