AKIRA: The Architecture of Neo Tokyo exhibition curated by Stefan Riekeles, Managing Director of the Riekeles Gallery and Hiroko Myokam (明貫 紘子) of Eizo Workshop, in collaboration with Nadejda Bartels, Director of Tchoban Foundation, presents 59 original production backgrounds, layout drawings, concept designs and image boards created for Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 animation film AKIRA.
The exhibition includes works by the film's art director Toshiharu Mizutani (水谷 利春) and background artist Katsufumi Hariu (針生 勝文), Norihiro Hiraki (平城 徳浩), Shinji Kimura (木村 真二), Satoshi Kuroda (黒田 聡), Hiromasa Ogura (小倉 宏昌), Hiroshi Ohno (大野広司), Hajime Soga (曽我 元), Tsutomu Uchida (内田 勉) and Takashi Watabe (渡部 隆) who was in charge of layouts.
The exhibition will take place from June 4 to September 4, 2022 in Tchoban Foundation Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin, Germany. Admission: 6€ (regular), 4€(reduced)
Official Site: https://www.riekeles.com/akira-exhibition-berlin-2022
Hiroshi Ohno, Toshiharu Mizutani and Katsufumi Hariu at Studio Fuga, Tokyo, Japan in Dec. 2021. Photo by Yasuyuki Takagi.
Available products
Three high quality solegraphs and posters approved by Katsuhiro Otomo and licensed by Kodansha have been produced for the occasion. Solegraph is the name for Yamada Photo Process’ high-grade ink-jet art prints that tries to approximate the print to the original artwork as close as technically possible. For more information on the scanning and printing process check Riekeles Gallery's Solegraph page.
AKIRA production background, cut no. 1, solegraph
Artist: Toshiharu Mizutani (水谷 利春)
Edition of 100, numbered and signed by the artist
Print type: solegraph high-grade fine-art print
Paper: Radiant White 270 g/m²
Format: 100 × 70 cm
Artwork size: 92 × 52.5 cm
Price: 1.200€
AKIRA production background, cut no. 182, solegraph
Artist: Toshiharu Mizutani (水谷 利春)
Edition of 25 copies, numbered, signed by the artist
Solegraph (high-grade fine-art print)
Format: 84.1 × 59.4 cm (A1)
Artwork: 55.0 × 43.0 cm
Price: 1.200€
Availability:
AKIRA production background, cut no. 207, solegraph
Artist: Hiroshi Ohno (大野広司)
Edition of 25 copies, numbered, signed by the artist
Solegraph (high-grade fine-art print)
Paper: Radiant White 270 g/m²
Format: 70 × 50 cm
Artwork: 42.3 x 36.0 cm
Price: 980€
Availability:
AKIRA production background, cut no. 1, poster
Artist: Toshiharu Mizutani (水谷 利春)
Edition: 1000 copies
Print type: lithograph (offset print)
Paper: Magno Volume 200 g/m²
Format: 70 × 50 cm
Price: 65€
AKIRA production background, cut no. 182, poster
Artist: Toshiharu Mizutani (水谷 利春)
Edition: 500 copies
Print type: 7 color offset
Print size: 70 × 50 cm
Price: 65€
Availability:
AKIRA production background, cut no. 207, poster
Artist: Hiroshi Ohno (大野広司)
Edition: 500 copies
Print type: 7 color offset
Print size: 70.7 × 50.0 cm
Price: 65€
Availability:
More background reproduction solegraphs and posters of METROPOLIS for which Otomo wrote the screenplay and other anime productions such as GHOST IN THE SHELL and PATLABOR are available in the Riekeles Gallery store.
BOOKS
All these background illustrations and many more are also collected in the books ANIME ARCHITECTURE published by Thames & Hudson in 2020 and PROTO ANIME CUT ARCHIVE published by Kehrer in 2011. The author of both books is Stefan Riekeles the curator of this exhibition who stablished Riekeles Gallery in 2021 with the mission of offering high-end reproductions of anime artwork.
