幸せ行きなさい (Happy Go Round)
Kitakyushu born and Osaka raised artist Ko-hey! Arikawa has embarked on a national tour. Dubbed the Koo-hey! Arikawa Expo Happy Go Round 2011 (say that three times fast), his latest stop was here in Okinawa at Plaza House's Global Gallery. You could call it a homecoming of sorts, as after living in Osaka Ko-hey! moved to Okinawa and attended university here. MaryAnn was lucky enough to score from free tickets from a co-worker, and as I'd never been to an art gallery or seen a living pop artist before I figured we couldn't really pass up the opportunity.
This guy (girl?) would be a perfect fit in a Super Mario RPG game.
One of MaryAnn's favorites. Gee, I wonder why...(FYI: purple is her favorite color).
The exhibition was set up like a children's playhouse. Most of the paintings took up their own room, and you had to bend down as you walked through the doorways leading into each area or risk bashing your head in. MaryAnn remarked how it's supposed to make you feel like a kid again. Mostly it just made me feel like I was having back pains.
At the center of everything was this uber cute/bizarre/scary as hell spinning head. I believe the character is named Matthew. He shows up in a lot of Ko-hey's children's books, even teaching kids the alphabet and how to spell in English. He'll also be showing up in my nightmares floating in space and spinning around with that creepy grin on his face.
To Ko-hey! Arikawa thanks for everything, Julie Newmar.