Phoenix museum exhibits Japanese manga-inspired artist’s work
Mr., ‘Amy—Quiet Before Dawn,’ 2021. Acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel, 35.43 by 52.8 by 2.01in (90 by 134.1 by 5.1cm). ©2021 Mr. / Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London.
PHOENIX – Phoenix Art Museum is now presenting Mr.: You Can Hear the Song of This Town, the first U.S. solo exhibition in more than five years to exclusively showcase the work of Mr., one of today’s most popular Japanese artists. The show will be on view in the museum’s Steele Gallery through March 12, 2023. Spanning the late 1990s to 2022, the exhibition features nearly 50 paintings, drawings, sculptures and video works, including a recent museum acquisition and a new 30-foot-long canvas that will enjoy its world premiere at Phoenix Art Museum. These vivid and often chaotic works — a large selection of which were created in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — draw influence from anime, manga and virtual fantasy worlds to examine themes of desire, tragedy and psychological anguish.
