- 601
Nawa Kohei
Estimate
50,000 - 80,000 HKD
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Description
- Nawa Kohei
- PixCell - T.O.P (DOOM DADA)
- executed in 2016
- mixed media
Provenance
This is a commissioned work created especially for #TTTOP. The artist has generously agreed to donate a significant share of the hammer price of this lot to the Asian Cultural Council in addition to the portion of profits that Sotheby’s donate for all lots in this auction.
Catalogue Note
Pixcellating T.O.P
PixCell - T.O.P (DOOM DADA) (Lot 601) is a specially commissioned work created by acclaimed contemporary artist Nawa Kohei, a personal friend of T.O.P who has worked with him on a number of artistic collaborations. The unique piece ensconces T.O.P’s limited edition DOOM DADA toy in glittering orbs of crystal glass, transforming the figurine into a bizarrely exquisite ornament. Developed over the course of more than a decade, Nawa’s acclaimed PixCell series seeks to destabilize the phenomenon of human sense and perception, reminding viewers of the ambiguity that underlies truth and reality. The series name ‘PixCell’ is an amalgamation of the words ‘pixel’, which describes digital image resolution, and the biological ‘cell’ – the simplest form of the organic world. Finding inspiration in life’s tiniest building blocks, Nawa puts forth a shrewd commentary on the contemporary world’s obsession with viewing and filtering the world through pixels—via cameras, smartphones and surveillance technology—which both distorts and illuminates the world we live in. By blurring the lines between form and content, illusion and truth, Nawa’s PixCell series is in equal parts contemplative and iridescently mesmerizing, constituting a truly iconic magnum opus in 21st Century contemporary art.
Artist Biography
Nawa Kohei (b. 1975, Japan) received his BFA, MFA, and Ph.d. in Fine Arts from the Kyoto City University of Art. He is currently the Assistant Professor in Department of Fine Art at Kyoto University and the director of the creative platform SANDWICH, a production house for art, design and architecture. Having launched his artistic career in 1999, Nawa has participated in various group exhibitions, most notably at the ZKM Center for Art and Media in 2016; the 2013 Aichi Triennale; the 2013 Setouchi Triennale and the 2010 14th Asian Art Biennale where he won the Grand Prize. His art has been collected by the likes of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Mori Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Queensland Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Victoria. Nawa had a solo exhibition Synthesis in 2009 with funding from Hermés Foundation, and held a successful large-scale solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo in 2011. Nawa was named in the list of “50 Next Most Collectible Artists” by the American monthly art magazine Art + Auction in the June issue, 2012.
PixCell - T.O.P (DOOM DADA) (Lot 601) is a specially commissioned work created by acclaimed contemporary artist Nawa Kohei, a personal friend of T.O.P who has worked with him on a number of artistic collaborations. The unique piece ensconces T.O.P’s limited edition DOOM DADA toy in glittering orbs of crystal glass, transforming the figurine into a bizarrely exquisite ornament. Developed over the course of more than a decade, Nawa’s acclaimed PixCell series seeks to destabilize the phenomenon of human sense and perception, reminding viewers of the ambiguity that underlies truth and reality. The series name ‘PixCell’ is an amalgamation of the words ‘pixel’, which describes digital image resolution, and the biological ‘cell’ – the simplest form of the organic world. Finding inspiration in life’s tiniest building blocks, Nawa puts forth a shrewd commentary on the contemporary world’s obsession with viewing and filtering the world through pixels—via cameras, smartphones and surveillance technology—which both distorts and illuminates the world we live in. By blurring the lines between form and content, illusion and truth, Nawa’s PixCell series is in equal parts contemplative and iridescently mesmerizing, constituting a truly iconic magnum opus in 21st Century contemporary art.
Artist Biography
Nawa Kohei (b. 1975, Japan) received his BFA, MFA, and Ph.d. in Fine Arts from the Kyoto City University of Art. He is currently the Assistant Professor in Department of Fine Art at Kyoto University and the director of the creative platform SANDWICH, a production house for art, design and architecture. Having launched his artistic career in 1999, Nawa has participated in various group exhibitions, most notably at the ZKM Center for Art and Media in 2016; the 2013 Aichi Triennale; the 2013 Setouchi Triennale and the 2010 14th Asian Art Biennale where he won the Grand Prize. His art has been collected by the likes of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Mori Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Queensland Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Victoria. Nawa had a solo exhibition Synthesis in 2009 with funding from Hermés Foundation, and held a successful large-scale solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo in 2011. Nawa was named in the list of “50 Next Most Collectible Artists” by the American monthly art magazine Art + Auction in the June issue, 2012.