Agoraphilia

White Cube is pleased to present Shigeo Otake’s (b.1955, Kobe, Japan) first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. Informed by over four decades of exploring figurative painting – which began with meticulous studies of parasites and the transformative morphology of Cordyceps – Otake’s work has gravitated towards the notion of agora in recent years. The Greek word for ‘gathering place’, agora, functions here as a site where the exchange of commodities serves as an externalisation of belief structures and value registers.

Employing tempera to create densely populated scenes, Otake envisions a collective participation with anthropomorphic figures and botanical forms to draw parallels between organic growth and public assembly. By way of the marketplace and its many textures, Otake engages with systems of circulation, the logic of consumerism and dynamics of reciprocity, all of which have come to define sociality in the 21st century.Further information about the exhibition, including installation images and featured artworks, will be available ahead of the opening.