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POKÉMON X KOGEI | Playful Encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft

  • Art, Sculpture
  • Japan House, Hollywood
  1. Pokémon at Japan House
    Photograph: Courtesy Taku SaikiHaruo Mitsuta, Articulated Gyarados, 2022.
  2. Pokémon at Japan House
    Photograph: Courtesy Taku SaikiTaiichiro Yoshida, Jolteon, 2022
  3. Pokémon at Japan House
    Photograph: Courtesy Taku SaikiSadamasa Imai, Venusaur, 2022
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Time Out says

I choose you, lacy Pikachu: See familiar Pokémon translated into works of silk, ceramic and copper at this free Hollywood exhibition.

“POKÉMON X KOGEI | Playful Encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft” puts the focus on a pair of Japanese cultural exports and the collision between a decades-old gaming franchise and centuries-old crafting techniques.

For video game fans, the phrase “Pokémon exhibition” is probably all the convincing they need to swing by JAPAN HOUSE. But the Hollywood cultural center’s gallery will use the imagined world of Pokémon to spotlight the traditional techniques behind the 70 or so works of ceramics, textiles, lacquer and metalwork on display (for example, how crafts’ reliance on the earth’s basic materials and forces are similar to the game’s elemental types).

The free exhibition, which debuted at Japan’s National Crafts Museum earlier this year, heads to Hollywood from July 25, 2023 to January 7, 2024. Among the 20 Japanese artists featured, highlights include textile designer Reiko Sudo’s “Pikachu Forest” of 900 strands of lace and metal artist Taiichiro Yoshida’s copper sculptures of Eevee and its three first-generation evolutions. You can expect pieces with adorable starter Pokémon like Rowlet, Litten and Popplio as well as some of the series’ more ferocious creatures, like a fiery Charizard piercing through a ceramic jar or a delicately lacquered Moltres adorning a tea caddy.

Details

Address:
Japan House
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles
90028
Price:
Free
Opening hours:
Mon–Fri 11am–7pm; Sat, Sun 11am–8pm

Dates and times

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