Do Girls Dream of Electric City?", a solo exhibition by Mantiko, was held at 9s Gallery from August 22 (Tue) to 26 (Sat). The exhibition attracted a great deal of attention, with all the exhibited works sold out.

This article reports on the exhibition.

About Mantis

Mantidoko

Mantiko started her career as an artist in 2021. She is a contemporary artist who challenges to "reconstruct beauty painting".

In August 2023, she will participate in a group exhibition at GINZA SIX Artglorieux Gallery, a gallery owned by Daimaru-Matsuzakaya, together with Yayoi Kusama and others, and is highly anticipated in the contemporary art world. In August, he participated in a group exhibition with Yayoi Kusama and others at GINZA SIX Artglorieux Gallery, a gallery owned by Daimaru Matsuzakaya.

In the same month, she held a solo exhibition"Do girls dream of Electric City?" at TRiCERA,whereall seven of her works were sold out.

What Mantiko depicted in her solo exhibition "Do Girls Dream of Electric City?

Since her debut in 2021, Mantiko has exhibited mainly digitally, but in early 2023, she shifted to hand painting, attracted by the "amount of information" that painted-on paint can express (for details,see the interview article ). This exhibition featured works from that transitional period.



The gallery walls are decorated with a new work, "R City, " as well as a series of paintings of women with projected night scenes, painted in the year 2022. The title of the exhibition, "Electric City," is symbolic of the exhibition.


On the back wall of the gallery, " Arrogance" and"Neglect, " both hand painted by the artist, are displayed as a set.
Mantisko says that he gets the idea for his works from words and decides on a title first before starting work. The impact of the strong Gothic font on the monotone background is unique to Mantisuko, who has a background as a logo designer. On the other hand, the mantis peeking out from the girl's hair gives the impression of loosening our tension. This kind of slow and steady movement is one of the charms of Mantis' work.

Fusion of digital and hand painting: R City

R City"was created for this exhibition. During the exhibition, Mantisko's digitally created images were printed on canvas.

In addition, during the live painting session at the end of the exhibition, Mantisiko showed the process of finishing the work directly with brush and paint.



This work combines digital and hand painting. Mantidoko herself, with the rise of generative AI in recent years in mind, also asked the question, "What will be left for humans when AI takes over creativity (which has been considered a human trait until then)? The concept of "R City" was conceived with this question in mind.



This work is a hand-painted nightscape of Roppongi with vivid colors. This work can be regarded asa milestone for Mantisko, who has achieved tremendous growth in just a few years of activity as an artist and is now moving forward to further change.

Artist's Comment

Why did you hold the exhibition at TRiCERA?

I had been exhibiting at various venues, but TRiCERA invited me to exhibit at a gallery where I could connect with art collectors more easily. After discussions, I intuitively felt that this was the place I wanted to do it, and since the theme of the exhibition overlapped with the works to be exhibited, I agreed to hold a solo exhibition.

About the thoughts behind "R city," the background of production, and live painting

R city" was created to serve as the main visual for the core of the solo exhibition.

R city" is a work that captures the city at night from a futuristic perspective, and also includes questions such as "digital and analog" and "AI and humans.

As an attempt to emphasize "digital and analog" and "AI and humans," live painting was used. The process of defacing the calculated world with analog techniques, where things do not go as planned, was both thrilling and like performing a sacred ritual.

Impressions after the exhibition

As an artist, I was honestly happy that all the exhibited works were sold out.
The exhibition space, with visitors looking at the works, was filled with an atmosphere that affirmed the artist's very existence, and I felt the artist' s energy toward his future activities and exhibits.

As for the live painting, we were able to confirm its effectiveness as a mechanism that cannot be enjoyed without visiting the exhibition space, a discovery that can be applied to future exhibition activities.

If you are interested in purchasing Mantidoko's works, please click here.

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