MIX

Ken Kagami is known for his brashly humorous and playfully erotic works that involve stuffed toys, exposed genitals and bodily functions. Often merging Pop figures with bizarre, appropriative add-ons or colorful appendages, Kagami challenges contemporary Pop art sensibilities. The artist is also known for his collaborations with the band Deerhoof and since 2010, Kagami has operated the Strange Store, a retail space in Tokyo that sells clothing, objects, and printed ephemera. Ken Kagami’s work ranges from performances to installations, paintings, drawings, and publications, and is characterised by its simple expression of conflicting ideas. His take on pop culture presents a distortion of relatable materials and objects, and confronts social taboos with a healthy dose of humour. Through a sharp sense of colour, form, and pure ideas, Kagami merges worlds that would naturally never intermingle to create imaginative and bizarre transformations that are also intended to spark a reaction. In MIX, he creates distorted portraits by combining Bart Simpson with Sesame Street characters Elmo and Cookie Monster.