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Portraits & Pop Culture! Teiji Hayama Reveals “Ethereal Icons”

The Japanese artist Teiji Hayama is back. The Switzerland-based artist is known for his paintings that blend pop culture and hallucinatory images. Today he returns with a look at his new solo presentation in New York City’s GR Gallery. The exhibition is entitled “Ethereal Icons” and includes a selection of distorted portraits and objects. The artwork features subject matter such as movies, music, and cultural icons from the 1960s.

Teiji Hayama blends “influencers” from the past and the present while looking at social media mannerisms. The showcase includes grey-scale pieces featuring Marilyn Monroe alongside an official NBA Spalding basketball. We also see one that features the famed model Twiggy beside a dented Coca-Cola soda can.

The GR Gallery released a statement regarding the showcase. It reads: “Hayama’s paintings appear like a time-lapse hallucination, a  sort of déjà vu’ linked to glamorous and notorious imagery that everybody can relate to. The familiarity of this world is discredited by anamorphic overviews, decontextualized objects, and a shifty color palette.” The statement goes on to say, “The esthetic disconnection from the original characters and symbols is although somehow compensated by a more digital, hyper-technological and hip approach that re-investigates the subjects in a new realm, closer to the current one and uses their allure to criticize its aberrations.”

Take a closer look at a few select pieces from “Ethereal Icons.” The exhibition will be on display from January 15th through February 13th. Head over to the GR Gallery to find out more and keep it locked with The Culture Curators for more from the art department coming very soon.

Photos via GR Gallery

Written by Jesse James

Author, Audiophile, Style connoisseur, & Sneakerhead. Passionate for life and happiness!

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