“Three Is A Magic Number 7” Exhibition “
Japan Society Gallery
This event has ended.
As Superman and the robots of Pacific Rim were leveling cities on the big screens, the Japanese artist collective three scoured New York City to find action figures of seminal American and Japanese anime, comic book and game characters–from Batman and Spider-Man to Sailor Moon and One Piece–and transformed them into completely new forms, melting them down into sculptural, cubic “bits.”
The resulting 555 “bits” are on view in Japan Society’s A-Level space in the exhibition, “three is a magic number 7.” Comprised of 55 American and 500 Japanese figures (the number five an homage to New York City’s five boroughs), visitors can scan a QR code label for each “bit” with their smartphones to discover what it looked like before it was melted down.
Selected for Japan Society Gallery’s inaugural Summer Artist Residency Program, and working out of Japan Society’s gallery throughout the month of July, three is a creative collaborative from Fukushima Prefecture made up of three anonymous artists. Known for their complex, whimsical sculptures and space-altering installations using everyday materials, the name “three” signifies the holy trinity of popular culture–manga, anime, and the virtual world of the Internet. The objects in “three is a magic number 7” exemplify their ongoing exploration of the interplay between 2-D and 3-D expression.
[Image: three, “70bit (detail)” (2012) figures and capsule toys 13.78 x 13.78 x 21.65 in. Courtesy of the artists.]
Media
Schedule
from August 27, 2013 to October 13, 2013