Nippon! Ikemen, Ikejo Zukan
I visited the special exhibition titled “Nippon! Ikemen, Ikejo Zukan,” being held at Isetan.
Since photography was not allowed at the venue, I will omit interior photos.
As it was the opening day, the venue was relatively crowded.
With the current bijinga (paintings of beautiful women) boom, sales seem to have gotten off to a considerably strong start, centered on the bishojo (pretty-girl) type. Narumi Hosokawa’s works apparently sold out in an instant…
The works of Erii Kawaguchi, the popular pen-drawing artist featured on the DM (direct-mail flyer), were also doing well.
We are at the height of the bijinga boom, but is there such a genre as “un-beautiful-person paintings”? My impression is that too many paintings of beautiful women and young girls are circulating in the world. Unless the range of works is broadened, I have a feeling it may lead to unfavorable results for the art industry.
The venue felt like walking into an idol singer’s event, which left me a little bewildered.
A good atmosphere is welcome, but I do hope things won’t become too excessive.
