“The Second Stage at GG” is a series of exhibitions presenting more recent works by former finalists in the gallery’s open competitions launched to promote budding artists in various fields. The works shown in “The Second Stage at GG” exhibitions are all created after they entered their respective fields as professional artists. The series initially featured works by finalists in the “Hitotsubo” competitions that ran from 1992 to 2008; since 2009 it has focused on finalists in the superseding “1_WALL” competitions.

The 33rd exhibition in “The Second Stage at GG” series introduces the works of Keiichiro Oshima, an art director and graphic designer who was a finalist in the 16th “Hitotsubo” Graphic Art Exhibition in 2000. Initially employed at SUN-AD, he was a founding member of Uchu Country, where he remained until going freelance in 2006. Since then he has been remarkably active in a broad variety of artistic areas, including advertising art direction, apparel-related graphics, CD cover art, textile design and video creation. Oshima’s unique worldview, born from delicate beauty and ornate embellishments, is both eerie and yet quite beautiful, always having a profound impact on the viewer.

The theme of Oshima’s exhibition is “teeth” – in Japanese pronounced “ha.” Using casts of characters consisting of teeth and tongues equally strange and cute, Oshima depicts the world of wild imaginings of children dogged by tooth decay. We are sure visitors will enjoy seeing these amusing and potent products of Oshima’s artistic genius.