ISETAN MEN'S net has launched a new series called "ART UP by International Creators." This series focuses on "fashion" and "art," two fields that have long been closely related, and will curate and introduce a variety of artists.

The fifth artist featured is Yohaku, a painter from Kawagoe, also known as "Little Edo" for its castle town atmosphere, who has strong ties to the domestic hip-hop scene, having worked on artwork for Budamunk's projects. How did his work, which fuses Japanese aesthetics with hip-hop and street culture, come to be?

Event Information

Yohaku Live Painting

□September 12th (Wednesday) 11:00-18:00

□Main building, 6th floor = Event hall / Pillar C-7

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Yohaku

A painter from Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture. He established his own style after performing live painting at the long-established hip-hop club Ikebukuro BED and working in Australia. He is also known for his work as DOPE JAP WORKS with SOLID, a painter/designer from Yamagata Prefecture.

It's important to confront and bring to light negative emotions.

"I joined a DJ club in college. I had always listened to hip hop, but that's when I became more deeply involved in the culture. At that time, I personally felt a sense of initial impulse from hip hop. Even if you're not good at rapping, just try it. Even if you're not good at drawing, try graffiti or something like that. That's what inspired me the most."

Yohaku grew up looking at his parents' art books and reproductions, and even considered going to art school. He'd always loved drawing, but he never found the motivation to start drawing seriously as he got older. What finally ignited his passion was none other than the DIY spirit of hip hop. When his turntables broke, he started drawing, something he'd always been interested in.

"I've always had many hobbies. I like sports, I like skating, and I tried out pretty much everything that was popular when I was little, like yo-yos. But I usually get bored once I can do them to a certain extent. But drawing is the one thing I never get tired of, no matter how much I do it. Even when I come home tired, I want to draw, and when I see really good drawings, it motivates me to think, 'If I try hard, I could draw that too.'"

After graduating from university, he got a job at an advertising company. He had hoped to do creative work, but it was different from what he had imagined, so he quit. After that, while working at a restaurant, he started frequenting BED, a long-established hip-hop club in Ikebukuro, and began doing live painting there often.

"The customers at the club would give their opinions without hesitation, even if they couldn't draw themselves. At first, I sometimes thought, 'Shut up!' (laughs). But I was still just starting out as an artist, so I was lucky to have that kind of environment. I drew portraits of customers and rappers, and it was a really great experience. I'm incredibly grateful to JOMO, the manager of BED at the time, for introducing me to various people and for all his help."

Afterward, Yohaku used a working holiday visa to travel to Melbourne, Australia, a city known for its vibrant graffiti scene. There, he absorbed the local graffiti culture while painting on signs and walls.

"Compared to Japan, art is a much more accessible thing over there. For example, in Japan, if you paint a demon or something on a wall, people tend to say things like, 'That's scary,' or 'It'll make the area unsafe,' but over there, if the painting is good, they just praise it. If you paint a good picture on a wall, it seems like people stop vandalizing it with shoddy graffiti. And it seems like the people who do the graffiti never paint over good artwork. I was able to paint on the walls of quite a few houses."

Yohaku often uses yokai (Japanese supernatural beings) and religious themes as motifs, but his style is to add a twist or two to them rather than simply depicting them as they are.

"I always do my research before I start drawing. However, even after researching, I sometimes deliberately break those rules and concepts. You know that American hip-hop group, Wu-Tang Clan? They confused kung fu and ninja, but that was a hit. In Japan, people thought, 'That's interesting,' and 'That's cool.' For example, I think it's important to be precise, like 'Hotei holds a sake bottle in his right hand,' but I felt that if I just drew it exactly like that, it wouldn't be my own art."

From there, he established a highly original style of art, blending religious elements such as yokai (Japanese supernatural beings), Shintoism, and Buddhism with the essence of hip-hop and street culture. His next goal, he says, is to create his own unique character.

"All the graffiti artists I admire have very distinct personalities, don't they? I also want to establish an original character that reflects my own individuality. And when I draw, I want to bring out the anxieties and negative emotions I experience in my daily life. I think those murky emotions can't be erased unless you put them out there, and I think it's important to confront them seriously."

NEXT> Towards the live painting at 'SOUL CAMP 2018 at ISETAN'