If you happen to be taking a little winter jaunt to Tokyo, go check out Pex Pitakpong's new solo show, Welcome To My World, on view at Nanzuka Underground. The Bangkok-born painter is known widely for his illustration work for various Thai magazines, obviously with an influence of anime and manga. In 2015, Pex created the original character "Mari" and began a new focus in their career as a fine artist. The show features works on canvas as well as 99 drawings on paper.
As the gallery notes, "Pex's works, which are bright and uniquely colored, feature boys and girls dressed as animals, plants, and imaginary creatures. These fantasy-filled characters are filled with figurative meanings that reflect the diverse ways of life of various people. For example, the Akha people, who are the motif of the new work ``Akha'' presented at this exhibition, are a small ethnic group that settled in the highlands of Asia. The Akha people, who live a semi-nomadic farming life in the mountainous region, use their own language and have inherited their unique culture, including their ethnic costumes and lifestyle, to this day. On the other hand, many Akha people do not have nationality, and they also face social issues such as human rights, economic poverty, and educational disparities."
