<GODZILLA THE ART> started as a project to celebrate the 70th anniversary of birth in 2024.

In 1954, Godzilla, the world-class icon, has shown us various expressions in the last 70 years, but they are not the same and are constantly changing. Godzilla has strongly appealed to the social message through its huge presence and destructive power. Godzilla films have a profound charm as a comprehensive art that transcends entertainment, while artists create works on the theme of destruction and regeneration, and the relationship between nature and humans through Godzilla's symbolic presence.

This exhibition will be attended by Tetsuya Nakamura, Hiroki Tsukuda, Ryuichi Ohira, James Jarvis, HAROSHI, Oliver Payne, Jean Jullien, Roby Dwi Antono, Stickymonger, TOKI, Pex Pitakpong, Julio Anaya Cabanding, Mitsutaro Abe, Yoshiki Muramatsu and Tadanobu. Each artist creates his own works on various methods, media, and scales, with their thoughts on each Godzilla.

Tetsuya Nakamura, who created the key visuals for this exhibition, talks about this work as follows.

"I paid tribute to the ancestors who have created Godzilla, and carefully repeated trial and error. In 1964, the violent and cool Godzilla motif focused on the beauty of the form and amplified my image of Godzilla."

We hope that you will be able to enjoy this exhibition.　

NANZUKA

Tetsuya Nakamura

Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1968, studied lacquer art at the Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School.

The theme is information that visual information can provide to living organisms.

I have produced various modeling works.

Nakamura has been in contact with Godzilla as a modeler since high school and deepened his familiarity and understanding. Nakamura, who touched many Buddha statues in studying crafts as a student, found a commonality in changes in the style of Buddhist art in Japan and changes in the shape of Godzilla, and further deepened his interest.

It is said that the Godzilla of "Mothra vs Godzilla" in 1964 was compared to a Buddha statue in the Heian period, and the ideal form of Godzilla after it was completed. This time Nakamura created the Godzilla and Kinggidra of the 1964.

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©Tetsuya Nakamura Courtesy of NANZUKA

Ryuichi Ohira

Born in Chiba in Tokyo in 1982, he received a doctorate from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2011.

"Godzilla has been a representative of absurd since childhood, and has given me some sort of 'awareness'. Godzilla appears in everyday life without any purpose and leaves. This time, I looked like Godzilla as a hammer as a motif that symbolizes absurd existence.

"Godzilla and Hammer" can not be expressed well in words, but I thought it was perfect and came to the production. Living is a series of absurdities. The events a few seconds ago and a few seconds later would not seem consistent. Then we have no choice but to love absurdness. "I created Godzilla hammers to love destruction and creation without reason, unreasonable death and life," says Ohira.

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©Ryuichi Ohira Courtesy of NANZUKA

James Jarvis

Born in 1970, James Jervis is a London-based artist and illustrator and character designer.

His artistic style has been widely recognized and appreciated in Japan as well. From 2003 to 2013, he ran a company called Amos with SILAS co-founder Russell Waterman, and has recently collaborated with many global brands such as NIKE, UNIQLO, IKEA, and adidas.

This time, James will exhibit Godzilla works drawn on paper in a free style one after another in a clipboard style.

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©James Jarvis Courtesy of NANZUKA

Haroshi

Since 2003, he has been producing unique sculptures and installations using scrap wood from skateboard decks.

Heroshi's work in this exhibition is inspired by the first appearance scene of the first Godzilla. The work is made using discarded skateboards, and Godzilla's teeth are cut out from the urethane wheel (tires) of the skateboard that the author himself used. The phenomenon in which the skateboard wheel bites the deck and gets clogged is called "Wheelbytes", and inspired by this word, Godzilla teeth are created with wheels, and exactly "Wheelbytes" are trying to reproduce. The yellowing of the teeth reflects the color of the weel burned in sunlight while actually using the skateboard.

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©HAROSHI Courtesy of NANZUKA

Oliver Payne

Since the late 1990s, as a collaborative artist with Nic Ralph, he has been active in creative activities focusing on video and installation works based on street culture such as skating, hardcore music, punk, and graffiti.

In this exhibition, Oliver was very inspired by the sound of the Godzilla movie released in 1954, and decided to use it to create Hirsch noise music pieces.

"It's exciting to make noise music using the sound of Godzilla movies and to present it in Japan, a country where noise music is developing. "This time, we created it with the help of our friends David Scott Stone, who are making sounds with Merz Bow, Mazona, Melvins, etc."

TM ＆ © TOHO CO., LTD.

©Oliver Payne Courtesy of NANZUKA

Commemorative event of GODZILLA THE ART

Movie Monster Series Godzilla (1968) 

Tetsuya Nakamura ver.

5,500 yen (tax included) ※Regular sales at the venue

A limited number of figures designed by Tetsuya Nakamura, a participating artist in the "Movie Monster Series Godzilla (1968)" has been released.

Commemorative event of GODZILLA THE ART 

Toho Great Monster Series Godzilla (2023) 

Heat Radiation Version 

27,500 yen (tax included) ※Regular sales at the venue 

GODZILLA THE ART Limited

Movie Monster Series Godzilla (1954)

Template

4,620 yen (tax included) ※Regular sales at the venue

The Godzilla Hinagata was created to consider the modeling of Godzilla that appears in the first work of Godzilla series, Godzilla (1954). At the stage of modeling study, the body was designed to be covered with scales, and it was different from the currently widely known figure of Godzilla. Godzilla dolls can be said to be the origin of Godzilla.

Trading acrylic keychain [12 types in total] ¥1,100 (tax included)

Glass magnet 825 yen (tax included)

Pass case 2,420 yen (tax included)

Postcard 330 yen (tax included)

Tote bag 4,400 yen (tax included)

T-shirts 7,700 yen (tax included)

Poster 3,300 yen (tax included)

<GODZILLA THE ART> started as a project to celebrate the 70th anniversary of birth in 2024.
In 1954, Godzilla, the world-class icon, has shown us various expressions in the last 70 years, but they are not the same and are constantly changing. ＜GODZILLA THE ART＞ This is a project in which Japanese and foreign artists living in modern times face Godzilla in their own way beyond the boundaries of movies, and express Godzillas that they interpret. Through the project, we plan to develop various projects such as holding exhibitions and product sales.

Official HP https://godzillatheart.com/
Official X https://twitter.com/godzillatheart
Official Instagram https://www.instagram.com/godzillatheart

A special interview video by Mr. Takeshi Yoro, a general producer, has been released.
What is Godzilla to Mr. Takeshi Yoro who has spent his time with Godzilla? What is art? I'll ask you.

The relationship between Godzilla and art described by Mr. Takeshi Yoro: https://youtu.be/u_cJn8Yi5sc