Oarbt collaborates with Dexter Wimberly and KOKI ARTS for exhibition of contemporary Japanese paintings launching on New Year’s Day
Gap in a Gap in a Gap, Tomonari Nakayashiki, 2020
Immersive 3D art platform Oarbt collaborates with independent curator Dexter Wimberly for a new exhibition of work by three emerging Japanese artists from around the world. The exhibition opens on www.oarbt.com on 1 January 2021 at 00.00 Tokyo time to mark a fresh and hopeful start to the New Year.
The exhibition, which will be shown in one of Oarbt’s rendered virtual gallery spaces, is a collaboration between Hayama Artist Residency, which Wimberly founded earlier this year to introduce visual artists from around the world to Japanese culture and offer them an exhibition opportunity in Japan, and KOKI ARTS, a contemporary gallery based in Tokyo.
Wimberly and KOKI ARTS will bring together work by three painters in the exhibition, highlighting some of the tremendous talent in the contemporary Japanese art scene. The artists are Tokyo-based Ryoichi Nakamura, who will show a grid of 200 manipulated portraits of Japanese Americans during WW2; Brooklyn-based Hiroya Kurata, whose paintings depict expressionist figurations of everyday life; and Kyoto-based Tomonari Nakayashiki, who creates brightly-coloured abstract works.
Dexter Wimberly, comments: ‘This exhibition is intended to open dialogue and spark curiosity about contemporary Japanese art, which in my view is under-represented in the international art world. There’s an interesting interplay between the work of the three artists we’re exhibiting, and I’m excited to be collaborating with Oarbt, a venture that shares my ethos of creating opportunities for artists.’
Oarbt was launched by Ghanaian-born London-based art business entrepreneur Sharon Obuobi earlier this year. It is an innovative and dynamic new digital platform for artists, collectors, fair directors and curators to sell, collect and showcase art through multi-sensory immersive exhibitions and art fairs that extend beyond the limits of traditional bricks and mortar or viewing room spaces.
Sharon Obuobi comments: ‘This is a really exciting partnership for us and an important example of how we can use our innovative platform to open up opportunities for artists and make art accessible to the widest possible audience. We’re delighted to be working with Dexter Wimberly and KOKI Arts to showcase and profile the work of these three talented artists.’
Through its industry-leading innovations in immersive technology Oarbt creates detailed renderings of existing or imagined museums and galleries, reproducing art works in meticulous detail and animating spaces to replicate the physical experience of engaging with art. Oarbt is truly interactive, allowing the viewer to learn the detail behind a work of art and make a purchase thanks to its intuitive technology.
The exhibition can be viewed on the Oarbt website from 1 to 30 January 2021. All works are for sale. There will be a programme of talks and events during the exhibition, details of which will be announced shortly.
Hangout, Hiroya Kurata, 2019
a study of identity, Ryoichi Nakamura, 2019
Ends
For more press information and images, please contact Iliana Taliotis: +44 (0)7931 341 112 or mail@ilianataliotis.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
Image captions, from left to right:
a study of identity, Ryoichi Nakamura, 2019
Hangout, Hiroya Kurata, 2019
Gap in a Gap in a Gap, Tomonari Nakayashiki, 2020
About Oarbt
Oarbt is a dynamic new digital platform for artists, collectors, fair directors and curators to sell, collect and showcase art through immersive exhibitions and art fairs.
Through its innovations in immersive technology, Oarbt is disrupting the contemporary art world and making contemporary art accessible. Oarbt is designed for public and private exhibitions, for commercial galleries and artist collectives and for art fairs and solo shows.
The digital experience has become more important than ever, and it extends beyond the limitations of the physical space. Oarbt is for artists, curators and fair directors who are ready to think outside the white wall gallery space.
About Sharon Obuobi, Founder of Oarbt
Sharon Obuobi is an art business entrepreneur with an international background in gallery management, technology and investment advisory.
Sharon has a particular expertise and interest in how art meets technology, bringing together her experience as a founding member of the Modern & Contemporary African Art department at Sotheby’s and CEO of R&CO Developers, a software development agency with offices in London and Lagos which she founded in 2018. She founded Oarbt in 2020.
About Dexter Wimberly
Dexter Wimberly is an independent curator and entrepreneur who has organised exhibitions and developed programmes with galleries and institutions throughout the world including The Third Line in Dubai; Contemporary Art Museum CAM Raleigh in North Carolina; The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco; Koki Arts in Tokyo; and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.
Wimberly is a Senior Critic at New York Academy of Art. He is also the founder of Art World Conference, a business and financial literacy conference for visual artists, and the founder of Hayama Artist Residency.
About Hayama Artist Residency
Taking place in the coastal Japanese town of Hayama during the summer of 2021, Hayama Artist Residency is a four-week cultural immersion, which Wimberly launched in July 2020 in response to the global health crisis. The mission of Hayama Artist Residency is to introduce visual artists from around the world to Japanese culture and offer them an opportunity to have their first gallery exhibition in Japan.
About KOKI ARTS
KOKI ARTS is a contemporary art gallery located in Bakurocho, an art district in Tokyo. The gallery shows emerging and established artists from Japan and the US.