This February, Stranger Factory presents ‘Skulls and Sweets’, a two-person exhibition featuring the creations of a Japanese artist couple whose works complement one another: Tokyo Jesus and Eimi Takano. The exhibition’s title is an concise and apt way to describe their works. Through his works, Tokyo Jesus depicts the finitude of life as symbolized by skulls and deteriorations. In contrast, through her creations, Eimi invites us to revisit our best childhood memories by creating a world that is inhabited by cute anthropomorphic donuts, cakes, breads, Japanese rice balls, bears and cats.

Skulls & Sweets

Opening Reception:
Friday, February 5, 2016 |  6 – 9 PM

Exhibition Dates:
February 5 – February 28, 2016

Stranger Factory

3411 Central Avenue NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106

Tokyo Jesus is a self-taught artist who started his creative career as a prop maker for a television show. He then worked as an original sculpture-maker at Bandai Sofubi Toys for five years. In 2009, he left his job to start his career as a full time artist. Through his works, he creates a world that is covered in skulls in which his characters are teetering between sanity and insanity. To him, every single existence in our world is beautiful because of its ephemeral nature; and that is the very thing he aims to communicate through his works.

In contrast to her husband, Eimi Takano studied oil painting at Tokyo Zokei University. However, in recent years, she’s been known as an artist who creates soft sculptures. Through her works, she aims to bring smiles and happiness in the viewers’ lives by creating cute and funny characters (complete with their own narratives/back stories) and present them to us in the forms of lovely art toys.