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Associated Press

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano has gained a following as an animator, illustrator, video game creator and fine artist.
All those facets are on display in the largest retrospective of his work in the West, which opened Wednesday in Milan.
The “Amano Corpus Animae” exhibition celebrates Amano as a transversal artist whose Japanese style has been infused with Western influences, from the Italian Renaissance to Marvel superheroes and pop art.
Curator Fabio Viola says the exhibition aims to give the 72-year-old Amano “an artistic dignity” with his first major European show.

Amano’s prolific career across media – from his start as an animator at Tokyo’s Tatsunoko Production studio at age 15 to recent work including posters celebrating the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini 100 years after his death – reflects his notion that an artist is someone with many talents.
“From what I see in Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, artists cover everything. They did sculptures, costume designs and, of course, paintings,” Amano says.
Some fans may recognise his work as an animator for Tatsunoko, where Amano trained making sketches of the anime version of Speed Racer before going on to create such characters as Gatchaman and Tekkaman.
Striking out on his own in the 1980s, Amano illustrated such science fantasy classics as the Vampire Hunter D novel series and made his mark in the video game arena with the Final Fantasy franchise.
The exhibition also includes more recent, and perhaps lesser-known, works.
These include an illustration of a model for Vogue Italia’s January 2020 issue (the magazine’s only cover ever not to feature a live model); an album cover for David Bowie featuring the artist and his wife, Iman; and the Candy Girl series of pop-art and manga-inspired paintings on aluminium.

“There were people who grew up with my works in real-time,” he says, adding that those from the 1970s would appreciate his animation and the generation afterwards would appreciate his video games, while his art would be recognised by two or three generations.
Viola selected the 137 original works on display from Amano’s vast archive of more than 10,000 drawings, paintings and other works stored in three warehouses in Tokyo.
Amano does not sell any work that has not been specifically commissioned, Viola says, and he had not seen many pieces since storing them decades ago.
“Every fan would immediately recognise his style,” Viola says.
“True, it is full of influences. Whoever has a little background in art history would find Art Nouveau, [Austrian painter Gustav] Klimt, bites of Renaissance, or the ukiyo-e [Japanese woodblock prints] and the traditional Japanese art prints techniques. But all of this is revisited in a way that Amano’s woman is clearly Amano’s woman,” he adds.

Trademarks include the lightly drawn eyebrows, smears of colour and the brush strokes of acrylic paint, Viola says.
The retrospective was organised by Italian annual comic and gaming convention Lucca Comics in collaboration with the city of Milan. It runs until March 1 at the city’s Fabbrica del Vapore art complex.


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Yoshitaka Amano at his exhibition “Amano Corpus Animae”, in Milan, Italy. The Japanese artist’s style, influenced by everything from Western pop art to manga, is said to be immediately recognisable. Photo: EPA-EFE

“Amano Corpus Animae” celebrates the Japanese artist’s 50-year-long career. Photo: AP

One of Amano’s works displayed as part of the retrospective. Photo: AP

For the exhibition, curator Viola selected 137 of Amano’s works from thousands stored in three Tokyo warehouses. Photo: EPA-EFE

Art Collaboration Kyoto fair offers a different way of experiencing contemporary art

Art in Kyoto’s Murin-an temple as part of Art Collaboration Kyoto. Photo: courtesy of neugerriemschneider gallery

Art Collaboration Kyoto took place at the Kyoto International Conference Centre, with satellite exhibitions at Buddhist temples to show the Japanese city is about more than just tourism. Photo: courtesy of ACK

A partial view of Laundry (2024) by Hong Kong-born, Taiwan-based artist Lee Kit. Photo: Enid Tsui

Works by Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno shown as part of the fair’s public programme, which was curated by Andre Chan and Chong Chin-yin of Hong Kong-based Arts Collective. Photo: courtesy of ACK

The Art Collaboration Kyoto took place in a large space free of pillars. Photo: ACK

A section of Japanese artist Izumi Kato and Mexican artist Bosco Sodi’s joint exhibition Speaking in Silence at Ryosokuin, a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto. Photo: Mitsuru Wakabayashi

A section of Andreas Eriksson’s exhibition at Murin-an. Photo: courtesy of neugerriemschneider gallery

The villa where Eriksson’s exhibition took place was once the retreat of former Japanese Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo. Photo: courtesy of neugerriemschneider gallery

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Artworks and installations at this year’s Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival. Photo: Nora Tam

Thai artist Natee Utarit’s 2 Singapore exhibitions imagine a world where Buddha went West

Déjà vu (2019) by Natee Utarit, a bronze work that shows the standing Buddha (left) and the classical Greek statue “The Doryphoros”, part of the Thai contemporary artist’s solo exhibition at The Private Museum in Singapore. Photo: The Private Museum

The State of Mind (2019), by Natee Utarit, at The Private Museum. Photo: The Private Museum

Thai artist Natee Utarit. Photo: Richard Koh Fine Art

The Four Noble Truths: Torso (2022), by Natee Utarit, at The Private Museum. Photo: The Private Museum

Separation From The Loved Is Suffering (2020), by Natee Utarit, at The Private Museum. Photo: The Private Museum

Installation view of Utarit’s solo exhibition “Déjà vu: When the Sun Rises in the West” at The Private Museum. Photo: The Private Museum

Love Is (2024), by Natee Utarit, at STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery. Photo: STPI

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These mahjong tiles have been stacked into rows two tiles high. Players take a tile in turn from one of these stacks, moving on to the next stack when the first is depleted. Photo: Antony Dickson

An example of “chicken hand”, which is four sets of any category. Photo: Antony Dickson

Examples of “sheung” (top), “pong” (middle) and “kong”. Photo: Antony Dickson

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Arts & Culture

Entertainment

Amano, whose portfolio includes the Vampire Hunter D novel series and Final Fantasy video games, is holding his first major European show


Amano, whose portfolio includes the Vampire Hunter D novel series and Final Fantasy video games, is holding his first major European show.


Japan

Italy