Akira Yamaguchi: Stepping Back to Seek the Underneath

Combining contemporary techniques with the traditional styles of ukiyo-e and yamato-e (a classical form of painting developed in the Heian era), Akira Yamaguchi is also a master of fusing modern-day motifs with themes from Japanese history and myth. His humorous but often cynical take on modernity and repetition of the past is on full display this spring at Mito's Art Tower, where 'Stepping Back to Seek the Underneath' spreads out over an entire building, with each room revealing a different aspect of Yamaguchi's extraordinary artistic world.