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綠日紅字 Green Days with Red Words 簽名畫背：2017 Javier Calleja Signed reverse Javier Calleja and dated 2017 西班牙藝術家：哈維爾．卡勒加（Javier Calleja）在2020年10月在美國邁阿密的 Bill Brady Miami 畫廊舉行「早晚」（Sooner or Later）新展。也是 Javier Calleja在美國的首次個展，作品延續藝術家一貫街頭藝術風格。融匯卡通、動畫、電玩等流行符號，透過大眾化普及元素和觀眾互動。又有全新大型雕塑和畫布作品，以及一系列的繪畫新作帶到展覽中。作品跨越傳統藝術媒介，打破繪畫與藝術裝置的界限，在日常所見中加入些許微妙的轉折。大眾初識卡勒加大多是從2017年發售的限量立體作品《想念藍天》（Missing The Blue Sky）開始，一個非常可愛生動的大眼睛公仔，「大眼仔」的形象即詮釋了哈維爾在創作時以人物主導畫筆，每一個細節的處理又傳達出藝術家當下創作的心境，並提出作品主題的發展。 哈維爾．卡勒加，1971年出生於西班牙南部的馬拉加，在成為藝術家以前，他曾是奧林匹克體操競賽的訓練選手。2000年自格拉那達大學美術系畢業，開始他的藝術創作生涯。哈維爾曾在馬拉加當代藝術中心舉辦的奈良美智展覽中工作過，結合文字與圖像的作風，由此可見奈良美智對他的影響。此外，自小深受日本動漫影響的他，在作品中融入「大眼睛」元素。2003年在西班牙舉行首次個展，之後陸續展覽於世界各地如巴黎、德國瓦爾德基興、漢堡及紐約。2017年起開始在亞洲香港、東京舉行畫廊個展，並於2019年首次在希臘舉行個人畫展，使他成為全球最有潛力的當代藝術家之一。 在哈維爾．卡勒加的作品中，黑暗中的眼睛為最初的靈感來源，從紙縫裡小心翼翼地窺視著周圍。之後，這些「大眼睛」的小東西們慢慢從黑暗中走出，形態各異。「大眼睛」是日本動漫人物的經典標誌，而今日本動漫被這位西班牙藝術家重新演繹。哈維爾．卡勒加結合普普藝術的通俗和漫畫的扁平式表述，在他創作時，又總會在卡通、寫實以及抽象之間找到平衡，使得作品看起來非純然超扁平卡通風格。 Spanish artist Javier Calleja's new exhibition, Sooner or Later, will run through the month of October, 2020 at the Bill Brady Miami gallery in the United States. This is Javier Calleja's first solo exhibition in the U.S., featuring works that continue his style of street art. Calleja fuses pop symbols, such as cartoons, animation, and video games to interact with the audience through popular and accessible elements. He brings brand-new large sculptures and canvas pieces, as well as a series of drawings to the exhibition. His works transcend traditional art media, breaking the boundaries between drawing and installation to add subtle twists to images in everyday life. The public first learned of Calleja mostly through the limited edition sculpture piece Missing The Blue Sky , a cute and vibrant figure with a pair of big eyes. The image illustrates how the character leads the brush in Calleja's creative process while every detail conveys the state of the artist's mind in the moment as it extends the theme of the work. Javier Calleja was born in Malaga in southern Spain in 1971. Before becoming an artist, he was a gymnast training to compete in the Olympics. He began his art career after graduating from the University of Granada with an art degree in 2000. Calleja once JAVIER CALLEJA GREEN DAYS WITH RED WORDS worked at a Yoshitomo Nara exhibition at the Contemporary Art Centre of Malaga. The way he combines text and images in his works is evident of the influence Yoshitomo Nara has on his works. Deeply influenced by Japanese animation from an early age, Calleja also incorporates big anime eyes into his works. His first solo exhibition was held in Spain in 2003. Afterwards, his works were exhibited all over the world in cities such as Paris, Waldkirchen, Germany, Hamburg, and New York. He began holding gallery exhibitions in Asian cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo in 2017 and had his first solo exhibition in Greece in 2019, making him one of the world's most promising contemporary artists. In Javier Calleja's works, the initial source of inspiration was a pair of eyes in the dark, warily peering at its surroundings through a slit in the paper. Later, these characters with the big eyes gradually emerged out of the dark, showing their unique selves. The big eyes, a hallmark of Japanese animation characters, are reinterpreted by this Spanish artist. Javier Calleja integrates the everyday appeal of pop art with the flat format of manga. In his works, he manages to strike the appropriate balance between the cartoon, reality, and abstraction, making his works so much more than a flat cartoon. In 1996, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami coined the term "Superflat": The world of the future might be like Japan is today - superflat (The idea was rounded out in 2001). A mix of cartoonish styles and cute images are used to present a virtual, absurd, free, and unassuming world, with utopian and dystopian themes included in parallel. In his Kawaii thesis in 2003, Murakami emphasized the importance of cuteness in modern society. In the work, Kawaii, he was, to a degree, conducting a response to this thesis. The wideeyed boy in the painting is a self-portrait by Javier Calleja of his own image in his mind. In front of the grassy green background, the boy's hair is fluffy like the clouds, and the pinkish color on the cheeks brings out the innocence and cuteness of the character. The eyes shine like a gem, with a color gradient that moves from bright to dark. The bright red nose stands out from the rest of the drawing, accentuating the innocent smile, while the sky-blue shirt is decorated with words that speak his mood. The bold use of colors and simple character lines combine to create this piece and its unique style. The painting, with its immense size, avoids being monotonous despite showing only a lone character. The painting is salient with joy, even without the overuse of colors. Javier Calleja's works are like a diary that highlights the otherwise unnoticed moments and emotions of everyday life with witty words, reflecting his life. He deconstructs his past works, using only the heads of his iconic boys with big eyes, to create this new 3D piece. This trend of cuteness is becoming a whole new aesthetic concept - Cutism. It's healing to look at these works, as it once was for the artist to play with pebbles on his hometown beach. The idyllic life and the effortless simple words brings a light-hearted surprise to the inner minds of the audience.
