“Perhaps the most identifiable image in Japanese art and one of the most reproduced images in art history, Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic woodblock print “Under the Wave off Kanagawa” (Kanagawa oki nami ura) has become the fitting symbol of the tidal influence of contemporary Japanese art and culture in today’s world. Hokusai’s notorious wave did not only capture the sense of enormity of the sea and the overwhelming, oftentimes violent power of nature, it also depicted mankind’s resilience when faced with waves of monstrous proportions.

 

Despite being an iconic image in art history, Hokusai’s most famous ukiyo-e print was not considered as ‘Fine Art’ during his time but rather seen as a cheaply produced commercial image for mass consumption. Then and now, Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave’ has blurred the lines between Fine Art, commercial design, street art, and pop/urban culture. Now an emoji, the ‘Great Wave’ has become a symbol for the global reach and soft power of Japanese contemporary art, design, and culture. This wave or ‘nami’ of contemporary Japanese contemporary art, informed by the rapid and progressive changes in postwar Japanese society, is what White Walls Gallery seeks to present in the group exhibition Nami: In Waves. In cooperation with three Japan-based galleries, Gallery Gallery Kogure, YOD Gallery, and Kobayashi Gallery, White Walls Gallery brings together works by 12 Japanese artists in a group exhibition that is structured as a collection of works that zero in on personal and collective memory, innocence and the struggle of human existence, and street culture and urbanism.” —Patrick de Veyra