Wonder Colors Art Project in Mexico

Feb-April 2016

Idea

Japanese Pop Collage Artist Yoh Nagao
Fascinated by colors in Mexico and culture

I have been to Mexico for two times before, one is SEAWALLS by PangeaSeed in 2014, another one isFIAP by WAD in 2015.
Through this experience of two festivals in Mexico, I was very impressed by the personality of mexican
people and their strong reaction to the colors I used.
They are open and friendly, helpful and innocent. And they get so happy when they saw lots of colors.
Since then, I have gotten simple question about it. How this sense of color were grown up? Maybebecause of their personality has been welcoming the colors, or the colors have been creating thepersonality? or what??
I personally use lots of colors in my art, pay lots of attention to using it. And following my inspiration andpassion as well.
Along with the desire of pursuit of the color and big curious of mexico, I visited to Mexico for third times
from Berlin.
And I named this art project “Wonder Colors”, to research and experience the colors in Mexico, and thenmaking art pieces based on it. This was actually my longest travel and residence record ever.

SEAWALLS by Pangeaseed, 2014

FIAP Cancun, 2015

Research

4 weeks, 50 spots, 5200km travel in Mexico
Collecting image materials by taking photo

In 4 weeks of traveling, I have visited to Cancun, Puerto Morelos, Isla Mujeres, Valladolid, Merida,Celestun, Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Izamal, Mexico city, Xochimilco, Teotihuacan, Guadalajara,Cascahuin, Oaxaca, San Augstin, San Cristobal de Las Sacas, San Chamula, Zinacatan
Hacienda, Cenotes, Flamingos, Tequila field and Factory, Mercados, Ruins, World Heritages, Museums,Churches and Art Fairs.
My intension is culuture and common lives in Mexico, I also have visited market, ritual, festival even agave
field to experience tequila producing.

Feb-April 2016

Whole travel distance is more than 5200km by bus and airplane, visited to more than 50 spots in Mexico.
Druing this travelin, I was keep on taking photos to collect coloful images, such as costume, handicraft,building, food and nature.
Those photos have been uploaded to Instagram along with hashtag #wondercolors_mx almost everyday
during the traveling.

Production

Stay and work in Cancun
Hosted by Architect Sergio Romero

This project is supported by by Architect Sergio Romero, he is sculpture artist and director of Estudio
Creativo in Cancun. He has been hosting me during working and staying in Cancun in Mexico.
Although organizing such project and expensing the cost is not easy. However luckily I have got
sponsorship from Cancun local companies.
Paint colors&Collage prints, they are main materials. It was great offer from two companies in Cancun.

Pinturas Acuario for aclyric color

COBA 93 for color copy printAs for the painting, I made 20 basic colors you can find in mexico commonly, like building, costume etc.
They easily reminds you typical colors from Mexico.
As for collage, I choose 200 pictures from 4,000 images. And I printed them out from color copy machine.
This time I made this rule to specify the materials such using full of mexican materials as possible as I can.
Because it's the challenge and experiment of color effect in mexico as I have been seeing those usage of colorand it's being part of their life.
I also used Mexican Loteria images as well. This is also very symbolic images from Mexico with colors.

Loteria, Mexican Bingo

Pinting Mayam Illustration

Exhibition

Cutting out collage materials

Wonder Colors Exhibition
at Casa de la Cultura in Cancun

On 13th April, Yoh Nagao solo exhibition "Wonder Colors" Solo Exhibition at Casa de la Cultura in Cancun was held.
There was full of people inspite of the place is not commercial place, even not very well access location.

Sponsors
Photo copy: Cobá93
Acrylic paint: Pinturas Acuario
Drink: Es Mezcal, MEZCAL BUENBICHO, MEZCAL SANTA PEDRERA
Poster: TakeOne Publicidad
Advertisement/Graphic Design: EstudioWikka
Special thanks toSergio Romero, Architect&Director of Estudio Creativo
Saburo Sugiyama, Professor of Arizona State University
Motoi Suzuki, Associate professor at Osaka National Museum ofEthology
Project hashtag #wondercolors_mx
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/wondercolors_mx/

Consequence

What Do Colors bring to you
Culture, History and Future

After all I have experienced through this project is people in Mexico is respecting and being proud of theirtradition and culture.
Originally I’m taking concept that is keep on asking a question, who we are (human) and where we go to?
In this such hectic and desperate era, we humans are totally losing our sight.
Because of this fast inromation revolution and globalisation, I’m guessing we are missing imporant things
towards the future. So, where are we going to? How we supposed to be? I’m really concerning what isgoing to be happened in the future.
In this project, through the colors and tradition in Mexico, I strongly believe that we have to know about ourhistory and tradition. Because we are standing on the future of our ancestor, we are not just being
appeared in this world just right now. During thousand of years, we were growing and developed withsuccess and fail, we have been trying to be happier and make it more piece, and to make decendants.
In this aim of humanity, that I found in Mexico is showing me the tips to us to live more rich (notmaterialistically).
Those colors are from nature and philosophy and wish as general, also religionastic perspective as well.
Howerever I still can find this color groove from their life and custom, how to sustain us to live with more
smile and happiness. Therefore I can say that there is fandamental humanity in Mexico.
If we missed this, we wouldn’t last longer, the future is pretty hopeless. Although onece again if we could
recognize and learn it, we will find the bright future.
My artistic instinct and curious of culture need to be enhanced more and featured in my art, in order tomake this world better place as it’s written in my artist statement.
I will keep this adventure and exploring on this mother earth as mission of artist.

Yoh Nagao
Colorful Torch Illuminates our futureSending hope and message with painting and collage
Biography
Yoh Nagao is a pop collage artist from Aichi Prefecture, Japan, based in Berlin since April
2012. After graduating from Nagoya Zokei University, he began working as a graphic
designer and illustrator, while freely expressing his unique style as an artist.
He gained prominence in Japan after receiving the Uniqlo Creative Award in 2005 (nowUTGP), exhibiting at the International Poster Triennial in Toyama, and being selected for
the SHIFT calendar design contest. These successes at international competitions led Yohto expand his work overseas. After a successful first-ever solo exhibition in Hong Kong in
2009, he received an honourable mention in the collage category of the international
competition ARTAQ Urban Art Award (France) in 2011. He was invited to participate in thePICK ME UP Contemporary Graphic Art Fair held in London that same year, becoming aserious contender on the international art stage. Since then, his pieces were also
showcased in numerous art fairs and events in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Zurich,Berlin, Paris, Angers, London, and Tokyo.
In 2008, his work was displayed in the famous boutique shop Colette in Paris. His work
has also been published in high profile magazines such as Nakedbutsafe (Germany),Lodown (Germany), Dazed and Confused (England), and DPI (Taiwan). In the summer of2014, in Isla Mujeres (Mexico), he collaborated with the project SE A WALLS byPangeaSeed (USA), creating an outdoor mural with the artist Aaron Glasson (NewZealand) that was showcased in The Huffington Post and The New York Times online. Hewas also selected by the organisation World Art Destinations as one of the 30 artists whotook part in the Festival International de Arte Público in Cancún, Mexico, where he createdan installation of a 100 multicoloured paper planes that captivated the Festival's audience.
Back in Japan, his art works were selected to depict the popular JRA Chukyo Racecourse
in Japan for 2015, widely showcased in the subway network of Nagoya.
Nagao’s pieces, exhibitions and artistic collaborations have steadily gained specialized but
also wide public appreciation, confirming the rising value of his unique style and endlesscreativity, which is being recognized all over the world.
Artist Statement
At our modern society, we are taking so many issues such as war, sickness, naturaldisaster, resource, environment, food and etc. The situation is getting harder and harder.
The world is totally losing its balance, pursuing just economy and ideology can not manage
our modern life any more in this planet. We even would lose the chance of recover, humanwill be collapsed if the situation continues the same way.
However, under this hard situation, Nagao believes that art can change our world better
place.
In his ar t, he uses figures, animals and landscapes to expresses love, happiness,warmness, pleasure and elation such as invisible emotional feeling which is hard todescribe in words. These are the senses which we are absolutely missing in modernsociety. He thinks these invisibleness contains are getting more importance for us now adays. They are also the key to live up in our society better.
Nagao’s aim is to tell these thing to the people through his art which is not only his way ofconnection with the society, but also his mission as an artist.

Yoh Nagao
www.yohnagao.com
contact@yohnagao.com

New York TimesJUXTAPOZ Magazine