Watch the first of a series of short films exploring the work of contemporary artists featured in our major winter exhibition Good Grief, Charlie Brown! Celebrating Snoopy and the Enduring Power of Peanuts.
Known for his subversive take on popular culture, Japanese artist Ken Kagami is an art prankster who has produced hundred, if not thousands, of drawings of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
Ken Kagami plays with the simplicity of the form and ease of line, creating multiple and inventive reinterpretations of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts characters for his 'Charpee' Instagram series, albeit with rather fantastical results. His treatment is always affectionate and reflects his love of both the downtrodden Charlie Brown and the transcendent non-conformity of Snoopy.
He draws on a schoolboy-ish love of 'poos and penises' to bring an absurd quality to his work, underlining the juxtapositions he chooses to make about the nature of contemporary pop culture. The repetition and consistency of his approach belies the curious idiosyncrasies his characters embody.
Up close and personal, his childlike toys combine boldly with unusual objects and actions representing sex, violence and excrement. These two worlds, usually far apart, merge and transform into artworks that provoke sniggering and repulsion at the same time.
In his multi-faceted practice, Kagami draws on the signs and symbols of pop culture to present often tongue-in-cheek scenarios and dilemmas that quesiton identity and masculinity. Often posing the question of why we are so in thrall to such icons, Kagami's work is also celebratory and joyous, revelling in the strange and silly juxtapositions he engineers.
Text taken from the Good Grief, Charlie Brown! exhibition catalogue. Buy your copy below.
