Akira currently has 18 pieces hanging in White Walls’ group show, New Territory, and people are taking notice. The artist appears in the current issue of San Francisco’s Nichi Bei Weekly with an article titled, “Identity & Art: San Francisco Based Artist Finds Identity After Connecting with His Japanese Heritage.” Vivien Kim Thorp writes,

“Using portraits of celebrities and historical figures, the paintings tackle apathy, nihilism and the celebrity as object. Somber figures such as authors and philosophers, are often presented in tacky or trendy fashions, while movie stars, rap stars and other objects of celebrity worship are caricatured with sharp textual commentary alongside.”

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Come by before April 25, 2010 to see what the hype is all about!