Exhibition: OHAKO at the ICN Gallery Opening

The ICN Gallery is opening on 8th September with the Ohako exhibition, which runs until 18th October.

This is an exciting new Asian art gallery opening in Shoreditch that will exhibit everything from pop art to traditional craftworks from the contemporary Japanese and Asian art scene.

The Ohako exhibition features 30 Japanese artists specialising in manga art, ceramics, architecture, fashion design and fine art. Names include Riusuke Fukahori, Keiko Masumoto & Ryo Arai.

The word Ohako means ‘one’s best skill’ but is also the word for traditional Japanese tea boxes. Each of the 30 participating artists were given a traditional tea box from Shizuoka – a place with a long history of traditional craft and Japanese tea culture. They created a unique piece of art that is housed inside, transforming it into an art box, with a view to giving London visitors a rare opportunity to experience the unique harmony of the Japanese arts using a combination of traditional and contemporary expression.

In recent years, the industry’s professionals with real craft skill have aged without successors. The gallery hopes to address this issue by means of creative expression.

In addition, The café will serve high quality Japanese tea supervised by tea master Yoshio Moriuchi. A selection of Shizuoka teas will be on sale in the café and there will be regular classes on tea culture by a Japanese tea specialist.

The Opening Party is at 6pm on 8th September 2011

You can expect to see this kind of incredible work:

Riusuke Fukahori: