Children’s Museum of the Arts

The Children’s Museum of the Arts (CMA) is proud to present an interdisciplinary art exhibition of new work by the internationally recognized Japanese artist Misaki Kawai, entitled Love from Mt. Pom Pom. Utilizing painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, artist books and zines, as well as animation and video, Misaki will transform CMA’s gallery into an imagined world named ‘Mt. Pom Pom’, where giant fuzzy animals and other colorful characters run wild.

CMA is committed to celebrating the artist in every child and we are especially pleased to find friends who feel the same. In her work, Misaki encourages both adults and young people to make art by emphasizing that the most important thing for an artist is not their ability to draw technically well, but their ability to trust their instincts. This ethos stems from Misaki’s own approach to art making, which is connected to the concept of “heta-uma,” a Japanese manga style that is technically bad (i.e., naïve or amateurish) but produces a successful result through the artist’s intuitive powers of expression. The exhibit’s message, which aligns with CMA’s approach to art and art making, is that everyone can be an artist regardless of skill or technical ability.

Misaki’s past exhibitions have included bizarre and beautiful installations such as an earth-themed amusement park in outer space, a towering treehouse for glam rockers, a beach party with surfers riding a gigando wave, and a fleet of various-sized airplanes carrying rock and roll bands from the 1960s. The esteemed New York Times art critic Roberta Smith described Misaki Kawai’s first solo show at Kenny Schachter Contemporary as a “tour-de-force debut”. Since then, Misaki has gone on to exhibit at major international venues, including solo shows at the Malmo Konsthall, Sweden, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, and group shows at Deitch Projects, Cheim & Read, The Valencian Institute of Modern Art, Spain, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Japan Society, to name a few. Misaki Kawai is represented by Take Ninagawa in Japan and Gallery Loyal in Sweden.

Watch how this exhibition came together in our behind-the-scenes documentary,
“Live” From Mt. Pom Pom.

Support

Support for this show is generously provided by The Ackerman Family, and in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Special thanks to:
Zeyad Ali, Off Soho Suites
Tri-lox, Exhibition Fabrication

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