017: MADSAKI

When we first met Japanese-born, New Jersey raised painter MADSAKI in person, he had just completed a site-specific mural for the Juxtapoz x Superflat exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This was a little less than 3 years ago, and since then, he has become not only a staple in Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki roster, but one of the most exciting and sought-after painters in the world today. His unique way of bending and breaking the rules of traditional Western artworks into a hybrid of Japanese style and street culture aesthetic. On the eve of his new solo show at PERROTIN in Hong Kong on July 17, 2019, and his work now on view at Beyond the Streets in NYC through the summer, we sat down with MADSAKI to talk his first years in Japan, growing up in New Jersey and his subsequent move back to Tokyo with a fresh perspective on being a career painter. We talk a lot about his relationship to his mentor, Takashi Murakami, and how the last few years have felt like an "art training" ground for the years to come. We recorded the day Beyond the Streets opened to the public, when Radio Juxtapoz visited with MADSAKI before his long flight home to Tokyo and last-minute preparations for Hong Kong. To kick off episode 17, hosts Doug Gillen and Evan Pricco catch up after a break, with updates on Beyond the Streets, Lucy Sparrow's massive project in Beijing with M WOODS and Gillen's newest short film with Icy & Sot in Greece at the site of a refugee camp.