EXHIBITIONS

Tokyo International Gallery is pleased to present “Welcome to the Grèy Market,” a solo exhibition by Michael Ho from June 11 (Fri) to July 24 (Sat), 2021.

Ho studied at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Art, where he was awarded its highest honor, Latin Honors, in 2018. After graduating, he moved to Tokyo where he explored possibilities of more complex paintings that incorporate American pop culture into paintings and sculptures focused on visual semantics and pseudo-doctrinalism, creating an active dialogue with the viewer.

In “Welcome to the Grèy Market,” the works immediately confront the viewer with a familiar yet alien representation of the visual experience of a retail space. Through satirical depictions of brand/pop iconography, nostalgia, cultural literacy, and “the decorative” function as a point of vulnerability in the viewer.
The work encourages the viewer to indulge in a kitsch sensibility while simultaneously condemning such indulgence.

While this use of satire can initially be understood as an unsubstantiated and generic critique of consumerism, the ulterior effect of the work destabilizes one’s certainty in one’s art taste. If one is seduced by the pop aestheticism of the work but then refuses to engage with the pop aestheticism’s satirical employment then one’s taste has been indeed “destabilized.”

“What is taste?”
“What is my taste?”
“Is my taste bad?”
“How does taste develop?”

We hope you will enjoy “The Grèy Market” by Michael Ho.