Kazuhiro Hori – “Sanctuary” @ Arch Enemy Arts [Philadelphia]

“Crucifixion” (2024)
acrylic on canvas
19.7″ x 9.8″

Kazuhiro Hori is an internationally renowned, award-winning artist and graduate of Kanazawa College of Art in Japan. Drawing from traditional Shunga Japanese erotic prints, Hori is known for his surrealistic imagery that regularly involves placing school girls in nauseatingly sweet environments filled with candy, toys, whipped cream, and sweets. By injecting it with more sinister elements of death and violence – menacing plush monsters, bony pastel-colored skeletons, blood-like rivers of fruit preserves, etc. – his work presents a juxtaposition that explores the progression from the innocence of adolescence into a more sexualized and deviant world beyond. The often dazed, borderline-catatonic look of so many of the young women that he paints elevates the pieces well beyond any simple fetish art. The subjects radiate with introspection and dulled emotion, their power and control lying solely in how they react to and interact with the transitioning worlds they are suspended in.

Titled Sanctuary, Kazuhiro‘s latest collection of paintings will mark his first solo exhibition at Philadelphia‘s Arch Enemy Arts, after appearing in numerous group shows at the gallery since 2017. The Tokyo-based painter offers the following artist statement.

“SANCTUARY is an area of the heart that these women want to protect and do not want to be trespassed upon. It can be values, favorite things, relationships, and so on. However, that sanctuary has already been invaded by the environment, society, etc. Yet, they live under the delusion that a sanctuary exists.”

Sanctuary will be on view starting this Saturday, March 23rd but the official opening reception isn’t until Friday, April 5th. We always recommend seeing the work in person, if possible, but if you’re going to be in the Philadelphia area, hitting up the opening night is where it’s at. As a bonus, there will be 3 additional separate art exhibitions opening the same night for First Friday. These include a solo show by Babs Webb, and a 2-person show by Lauren YS and Makoto Chi, along with a 12-year anniversary group exhibition for Arch Enemy Arts.