For Towa - Peace From the East

July 5 - July 27, 2007

Andrew Roth presents a summer exhibition of contemporary Japanese art. Forty-seven works by 20 artists comprise this survey curated by Diego Cortez, a tribute to Cortez’s friend, Japanese musician and DJ, Towa Tei. Tei is a founding member of Deee-Lite, and early proponent of the appropriated audio sample as well as the post-modern scratch technique in DJ methodology. Tei has positioned himself at the nexus of pure Japanese design, futur-musik, and international contemporary art. He is one of the most celebrated synthetic DJ’s in the world as well as a collector and art enthusiast of the highest order.

Tei represents the future not only of music, but of contemporary art as well, as do the 20 artists included in this show. Japanese art, a hybrid of traditional culture and the future, is represented by a diverse group from several generations of artists. (Ten micro-generations in 20 years?)

From conceptual/historical masters Moriyama, Miyajima, and Aida to ‘infantilists’ Aoshima, Mr., and Nara to the eroticism of Araki and Nagashima and the spiritual/theatrical found in works by Yokoo, Akasegawa, and Ninagawa, “For Towa” represents a four-sided mandala of the psyche of Japan today by contemporary living treasures.