By KENRO KURODA/ Staff Writer
March 7, 2022 at 08:00 JST
Kazuo Umezu’s new series of paintings titled “Zoku-Shingo: Chiisana Robot Shingo Bijutsukan” are on display at the “Kazuo Umezz The Great Art Exhibition” running at the Tokyo City View observation deck in the capital’s Roppongi district until March 25. ((c) Kazuo Umezu)
Horror manga artist Kazuo Umezu unveiled a series of paintings for an exhibition to showcase his first works in 27 years, a much anticipated event given that he is now 85 years old.
Titled “Kazuo Umezz The Great Art Exhibition,” the event runs until March 25 at the Tokyo City View observation deck in Tokyo’s Roppongi district.
Born in Wakayama Prefecture and raised in Nara Prefecture, Umezu made his professional debut when he was a third-year senior high school student.
The prolific cartoonist won renown for “Cat Eyed Boy,” “Orochi: Blood,” “Left Hand of God, Right Hand of the Devil” and other horror manga, in addition to sci-fi comic “The Drifting Classroom” and gag manga “Makoto-chan.”
Umezu’s first work after “Fourteen” that ended its run in a manga anthology in 1995 is a story-telling series of 101 acrylic paintings titled “Zoku-Shingo: Chiisana Robot Shingo Bijutsukan” (Sequel Shingo: Small Robot Shingo Museum).
It was a sequel to “Watashi wa Shingo” (I am Shingo), a 1980s sci-fi comic about a sentient industrial robot.
Speaking at the Jan. 27 opening ceremony of his latest show, Umezu referred to when he won the Heritage Award for “Watashi wa Shingo” at the Angouleme International Comics Festival held in France in 2018.
“It had been a while (since I finished the last work in 1995), and there was a moment when I thought I must do something after I received the award,” Umezu said.
He explained that he opted to create a series of paintings rather than a comic series, stating, “When you create something, it’s meaningless unless you do something new.”
While Umezu’s representative works are featured in one section, installations themed on his creations and produced by contemporary artists--artistic duo Exonemo, Yuma Tomiyasu and Tomoko Konoike--are also on display at the venue.
Admission at the door is 2,200 yen ($19) for adults, 1,500 yen for senior high school and college students, 900 yen for children aged 4 or older and 1,800 yen for those aged 65 years or older.
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