AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF C & K: COBRA and Ken Kagami
918 Ruberta Ave, Glendale, CA 9120
Gattopardo is thrilled to collaborate with MISAKO & ROSEN, Tokyo to co-present AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF C & K, an iterative and capacious collaboration between the two artists, COBRA and Ken Kagami. A delightfully mutable backwash of pop, camp, art historical, corporal and cultural taxonomies simmer into a distinct cosmology of wry lobs at celebrity and masculinity. The small c-prints, matted and framed like f/64 b-sides evoke aesthetics of 1960’s performance art documentation and vaudeville. In one photo, is the artist imitating a Bas Jan Ader Fall piece, or is the performance elsewhere- somewhere funnier and less affected? Video, sculpture, photography and merch commingle in the space. The cool lack of didacticism permeating the exhibition invites the viewer to skate through signs and symbols, gliding into a gestalt where little toilets yield big shits.
COBRA (b. 1981) lives and works in Tokyo. He founded and still runs XYZ Collective in Tokyo. Together with MISAKO & ROSEN, COBRA and XYZ Collective curated Sayonara Jupiter at 356 Mission in 2017. His solo show at Good Weather, Chicago opens February 26, 2023.
Ken Kagami (b. 1974) lives and works in Tokyo. Recent exhibitions include Masterpieces together with artist Trevor Shimizu, curated by Emily Watlington for Anthony Greane, Boston; Dog Lover for Meets by Nadiff, Tokyo; C&K Romantic Comedy together with artist COBRA, (all 2020); Retrospective, PARCO Museum Ikebukuro, Tokyo, (solo exhibition, 2018)