V1 Gallery presents
Hidden In / Fancy Pants
V1 Gallery proudly presents two separate shows: Hidden In and Fancy Pants. The shows are colourful collapses of borders, traditions and the illusion of normality orchestrated by Dearraindrop (US) and Misaki Kawai (JAP/US).
The American art collective Dearraindrop (Joe Grillo, Laura Grant, Billy Grant) and the Japanese-American artist Misaki Kawai hit Copenhagen yet again like rebellious rainbows. At one end of the motley arc you'll find Dearraindrop's ear-splitting exhibition Hidden In. And at the other end Misaki Kawai's exhibition Fancy Pants wanders around like a stray Japanese vagabond. It's the first time Dearraindrop and Misaki Kawai exhibit side by side and the result is a psychedelic show up (and show off) between some of America's most successful surreal (pop) artists.
Dearraindrop's Hidden In is like a startling thunderbolt. The exhibition charges the walls and the space of V1 Gallery with an erect polychromatic obelisk surrounded by large scale video paintings consisting of paintings in Technicolor, flickering computer installations and an instrumental soundtrack. At first sight the paintings resemble saccharine children's illustrations. But underneath the sweet surface runs an underground stream of unyielding societal critique - like a political Muppet puppet who had licked one stamp too many. The peaceful hippie grows fangs and vital curiosity is accompanied by a satirical rebellious helter-skelter of aggressive expressions. Dearraindrop's Hidden In is a here-and-now portrait of America with all its elements of pop and profit, treason and freedom, love and crisis, order and uproar. References can be found in Robert Crumb's ardent drawings, Pere Ubu's spaced-out sound universe, Marsden Hartley's Indian visions, topsy turvy 70's psychedelia and pop art's infatuation with mundane plastic paraphernalia.
Misaki Kawai's works are portraits of America seen through a different pair of binoculars. Where Dearraindrop's works dance restlessly on the walls, Misaki's paintings, drawings and papier-mâché sculptures lead a subtle still life telling affectionate accounts with nods to classic European painting tradition and American history, geography and nature. Misaki's experiences with a foreign culture that has now become her home entrench themselves in her works with atmospheres, observations and speculative smiles. Her works make one think of Milton Avery's landscapes, Sesame Street sing-along, Vincent van Gogh's sun flowers and Japanese pop culture.
Misaki Kawai and Dearraindrop belong to a fraction of artists that has lately played an important role on the American contemporary art scene. With the legendary exhibition venue Deitch as rocket launcher they have been catapulted into the higher spheres of the international art world and are now exhibiting worldwide in the most progressive and successful galleries.
Dearraindrop has exhibited in Denmark numerous times. They have had a solo exhibition at V1 Gallery, been part of several group shows and they took part of the lauded collector's exhibition Mad Love at Arken - Museum for Contemporary Art.
Misaki Kawai has previously exhibited at V1 Gallery in connection with the acclaimed drawing exhibition Paper Trails. Fancy Pants is her first solo show in Denmark.
