ARTISTS

EXCALIBUR

Takeru Amano

Daijiro Hama

Samy San

The artist collective EXCALIBUR takes great interest in the gap between ‘Virtual’ and ‘Reality’ and they strongly believe the field in between these two is an ever-closing one. Hidden in their work, we can find the (sub) culture of Japan. Their work is a narration and a modern philosophy. It refers to famous Japanese writers and artists, historical happenings and ancient mythology. It is inspired by the ideas of Japanese but also international philosophers and artists such as Walter Benjamin, Cory Archangel and Invader, who EXCALIBUR respectfully call “the dotter”.

Creating a work based on a past event, EXCALIBUR aims to create a moment that becomes more real. To them, the distance between an historical event and oneself is similar to the distance between a screen and oneself. Here, the (often 8bit) pixel serves as the door between real and virtual. Working with physical and digital art, they emphasize this idea.

For Asia Now, EXCALIBUR created a triptyque of kakejiku, hanging scrolls, with the title Takoku Sansuisu roughly translated as “multination landscape”. The three works are inspired by three different natural sources: Yuki, snow, Tsuki, moon and Hana, flower.

The works seem landscapes, but their mountains in the background are also the graphics of the stock market at times of war such as the World War II, the Gulf War and the 2022 Russian invasion or Ukraine.

Besides EXCALIBUR Sato Gallery represents works of Takeru Amano and Daijiro Hama and sculptures of our new artist: Samy San