For Towa: Peace from the East @ Andrew Roth

For Towa: Peace from the East

July 5 - July 27, 2007

Andrew Roth presents a summer (July, 2007) exhibition of contemporary Japanese art. 47 works by 20 artists comprise the survey curated by Diego Cortez, a tribute to Cortez's friend, Japanese musician and DJ, Towa Tei. Tei is a founding member of Deee-Lite, and early proponent of the appropriated audio 'sample' as well as the post-modern 'scratch' technique in DJ methodology. Tei has positioned himself at the nexus of pure Japanese design, futur-musik and international contemporary art. He is one of the most celebrated 'synthetic' DJs in the world as well as a collector and art enthusiast of the highest order.

Tei represents the future not only of music, but of contemporary art as well, as do the 20 artists included in this show. Japanese art, a hybrid of traditional culture and the future, is represented by a diverse group of several generations of artists. (Ten micro-generations in 20 years?)

From conceptual/historical masters Moriyama, Araki and Miyajima, to 'infantilists' Aoshima, Mr. and Nara, to the eroticism of Araki and Nagashima, and the spiritual/theatrical found in works by Yokoo, Akasegawa and Ninagawa, "FOR TOWA," represents a 4-sided mandala of the psyche of Japan today by contemporary 'living treasures.'

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