Exhibitions
La Imagen Humana: Arte, Identidades y Simbolísmo | The Human Image
Masterpieces of figurative art from the British Museum with La Caixa Foundation; additional works from the Prado Museum and other intenrnal institutions. Artwork from Koya Abe's Analogies series is shown in the La Imagen Humana exhibition.
CaixaForum Barcelona, July 5 – October 22, 2023
Exhibition information: CaixaForum Barcelona (Español)
CaixaForum Palma de Mallorca, November 11, 2022 – April 9, 2023
Exhibition information: CaixaForum Palma
Longview, Texas, March 2023+
Works from Koya’s Digital Art Chapter One (collection of the Longview Museum of Fine Art) are on display at the Arts Longview Cultural Center from March 2023 and are featured in Art Around Town, Degas Edition by curator Derek Frazier, in this month’s LMFA Perspective Magazine, available on Issuu.com.
CaixaForum Seville, February 16 – May 29, 2022
Along with stunning examples of human figures throughout history, Koya Abe's After Venus at Her Toilet (Analogies series) from the contemporary collection of the British Museum is included in this venue of the landmark Spanish exhibition.
Exhibition information: CaixaForum Sevilla (Español)
Press release: Fundación la Caixa Madrid (English, Español)
"The exhibition juxtaposes iconic works of ancient civilisations with others of contemporary art, thus enabling transcultural comparisons to be made. Among the artists featured are names like Henri Matisse, David Hockney, Goya, Manet, Albrecht Dürer, Luis de Madrazo, Christopher Williams, Koya Abe, Vanessa Beecroft, David Oxtoby and Tom Wesselmann."
Media Coverage
Media Canal Sur television: Cuando la imagen human se hace arte
RTVE: Exposición "La imagen humana" en Sevilla
La Imagen Humana Exhibition at CaixaForum Madrid
April 2020 opening date changed to April 28, 2021 – January 9, 2022
Following Madrid, La Imagen Humana is expected to be exhibited in Barcelona, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Palma, and Valencia, with dates to be announced.
Exhibition information: CaixaForum Madrid
Media Coverage
RTVE España – Exposición: La imagen humana. Arte, identidades y simbolismo (video, Español)
Metalocus: Identity of the Human Image Through the Symbolism of Art
EL PAÍS: 10.000 años dándole vueltas al cuerpo (Español)
The Limited Times (English translation)
"On one side, the digital artist Koya Abe reviews the Velazquez iconography of the Mirror Venus, tattooing the body of the goddess with traditional Japanese motifs. Anthropomorphic creations that 'reflect norms and beliefs of the communities where they were created,' says the curator."
Publications
La Imagen Humana
Companion catalog for the Imagen Human exhibition series published by Fundación “la Caixa” in collaboration with the British Museum; text by Brendan Moore. On Abe's Toilet of Venus (Analogies series), the author writes:
“Al fusion el classicism European con el Arte del tatuaje japonés, Abe da pie a un ingeniosa reflexión sobre os distintos conceptos de belleza y exhibición del cuerpo.”
"By merging European classicism with the art of Japanese tattoos, Abe gives rise to an ingenious reflection on the concepts of beauty and the exhibition of the body."
Connaissance des Arts
The April 2021 issue features Koya's After Young Man Beside the Sea (2008) in an exploration of the impact of Flandrin's iconic painting on artists and culture, along with Robert Mapplethorpe, Mario Sorrenti, Gaudenzio Marconi and others.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
by Matthi Forrer. Published by Prestel, 2020.
This oversize volume, lavishly illustrated, covers the artwork, life, and legacy of Kuniyoshi in detail. The section on Kuniyoshi’s Role and Legacy includes artwork from Abe’s Analogies series (After the Toilet of Venus).
Kuniyoshi
by Matthi Forrer. Published by Citadelles & Mazenod, France, 2021, limited edition.
This beautifully illustrated French edition on Utagawa Kuniyoshi includes artwork from Abe’s Analogies series (After the Toilet of Venus).
Io Penso [3]
Da Schopenhauer a oggi by Franco Bertini, published by Zanichelli, Italy, 2022
The comprehensive education text discusses Koya Abe’s artwork in the context of postmodernism. On Abe’s After the Birth of Venus (Digital Art Chapter One), the author writes:
Dall’incontro di due immagini iconiche dell’arte del passato viene fuori un’opera che ammicca ironicamente all’osservatore e all sua capacita di cogliere le “citazioni” dell’artista.
From the meeting of two iconic images of the art of the past comes out a work that ironically winks at the observer and his ability to capture the artist’s “quotes.”
News, Press & Publication Archive Selections
Theories in Digital Composite Photographs
12 Artists and Their Work by Dr. Yihui Huang, published by Routledge/Focal Press.
The book includes an analysis of Koya Abe's work amongst the featured artists. Abe's After Young Man Beside the Sea, from his Analogies project is depicted on the cover.
Dr. Huang discusses Koya's background, cultural and personal influences, along with an in depth critical analysis of his artwork. Several aspects of Koya's Digital Art/Topology of Art chapter series projects are discussed, including Drowning Girl (Topology of Art Chapter 9: Duplication/American Original), After Louis XIV (Digital Art Chapter 3: Display), Digital Art Chapter 2: Seamless series, #14 (Digital Art Chapter 1.5), Café Scene (Digital Art Chapter One), Study of Leonardo da Vinci (Topology of Art Chapter 7 / Topology), After Sunshu Ejiri (Digital Art Chapter 6: Animism), After Young Man Beside the Sea (Digital Art Chapter 5: Analogies), and Minowa kanasugi Mikawshima (Aesthetic(s) | Topology of Art Chapter 8).
The British Museum Acquires Koya Abe's Animism Series
The British Museum has announced the acquisition of Koya Abe's Animism series of 26 prints, with the support of the JTI Japanese Acquisition Fund. A print from the series is on display in Room 94 of the British Museum until the 10th of April 2016.
Posted by Koya Abe (Facebook archive), Thursday, March 24, 2016
"Japanese artist Koya Abe created a series of digital prints as a poignant response to the earthquake and tsunami that struck north-east Japan in March 2011, in which thousands lost their lives. Abe has taken images of famous Edo-period landscape and figure prints by artists such as Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi and radically altered them to remove almost all evidence of human culture from view. Even Mount Fuji, which dominates the landscape in several of the original prints, has been eradicated in Abe's works, emblematic of the toll that the earthquake took physically and nationally on the Japanese psyche.
The Museum has acquired this landmark series of 26 prints, titled 'Animism'..."
The Animism series can be viewed in the British Museum's collection online.
Bijutsu Forum 21
Japanese art periodical Bijutsu Forum 21 (volume 23) includes an article by Nobutaka Takeda, "Gazing at Ingres–the Reception of Grande Odalisque by Japanese Artists." After the Grand Odalisque, from Abe's Analogies project, is among the works examined.
Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age
by Robert Hirsch with Greg Erf, 2nd Ed., Focal Press, 2012
Published at a time of critcal technological change in photography, in Light & Lens, the author initially reflects that the "ascendancy of the photographic pixel as the accepted image building block...necessitated a rethinking..." Abe's work After the Toilet of Venus (Analogies: Digital Art Chapter 5 series) is included, along with Abe's perspective that "the scanner is the camera."
Exploring Color Photography
by Robert Hirsch with Greg Erf, Elsevier-Focal Press, (5th Ed.) 2011
Discussing Abe's After Supper at Emmaus (Display: Digital Art Chapter 3 series), Hirsch writes:
"Abe reconsiders truth and illusion by merging images of European portrait painting, originally painted for an exclusive audience, and modern commercial presentation, made for a mass audience."
Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age
by Robert Hirsch, Focal Press, 2008
Published at a time of critcal technological change in photography, Light & Lens explains tradition and evolving process in photo-based works, while also documenting the photographic art of this transitional time. Abe's work After Laïs of Corinth (Display: Digital Art Chapter 3 series) is included in the volume.
Exploring Color Photography
by Robert Hirsch, Focal Press, (4th Ed.) 2005
"Abe's series Digital Art: Chapter One utilizes current photographic technology to question the meaning of the photograph in culture. It explores cultural disparities and the value of orginality."