The images Ogawa creates act as a protozoa body, which is purred with strong acid chemicals: an immediate reaction, squeals, multi-directed movements. Ogawa’s work comes across as an eruption of colors, lines, painting material and, eventually, emotion. He often uses the metaphor of chemical reaction to describe his work: as if the mixing of particular substances, colors or ideas lead to an intense and unstoppable discharge of foam, gas, light, heat and unknown visual essences. Ogawa’s images are “irritated images”, not only in its figurative qualities but in its critical dimensions as well. The wild twist of the silhouette line in his figures might be understood as an irritation at the persistently clear outline of anime character-like figures so popular in Contemporary Japanese Art. T the same time, the uncatchable movement of Ogawa’s images might be perceived as an irritation at the product-like easy graspable figures in Japanese Pop Culture. Thus, the etiology of Ogawa’s figures hysteria has definite conceptional roots. It is a critical manifestation, but not just a circus of colorful spots.

Haruki Ogawa
1985 Born in Kanagawa prefecture.
2008 Entered Tokyo Zokei University Group exhibitions:
2009 Frantic Collection, art project frantic, Tokyo
2009 My Favorite Things, art project frantic&unseal cotemporary joint exhibition, Tokyo
2008 Today’s Lunch, ARC gallery
2008 Five Art Universities Exhibit, Musashino Art University

* The text provided by frantic gallery.