"Catch Them All !"

Galerie 75 Faubourg is pleased to present the exhibition “Catch Them All !”, including the complete collection of the first edition of Pokémon cards, brought together and exhibited in an unprecedented way in Paris, as well as a selection of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Daniel Arsham, Enoc Pérez, David Heo, Yuree Kensaku, Mwoaa and Excalibur around the universe of Japanese video games and mangas and of course the Pokémon saga.

Characters from comics, cartoons and video games have inspired artists for many decades. With the Pop Art movement in the 1960s, artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol began to use this cartoonish imagery as iconography or cultural satire. “I was very excited about, and interested in, the highly emotional content yet detached impersonal handling of love, hate, war, etc., in these cartoon images.” (Roy Lichtenstein in an interview for Artforum, 1963)

Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Kaws, Jeff Koons, Raymond Pettibon, Kenny Scharf… numerous artists have approached political, social, and cultural issues through these characters whose influence is universal and the visual language accessible to all.

The world of comics, cartoons and video games is heavily influenced by Japan, the land of anime and manga. Pokémon, created by Japanese Satoshi Tajiri in 1996 and which includes cartoons, playing and collecting cards, video games and comics, has become the most powerful franchise in the world, far ahead of Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, and Hello Kitty. Twenty-five years later, the popularity of this universe continues to grow. The cards, which are first aimed at children, both girls and boys, have become true collectibles valued by young adults who are boosting the market. These collectors are drawn to both the aesthetic details of the object – each card is the result of the meticulous work of an illustrator – and its rarity.

About seven weeks are needed for the elaboration of a card [1], which is first sketched by hand, before the creation of a black and white line version then a color version and finally the final product. The artistic vision of Mitsuhiro Arita, one of the most legendary illustrators, has thus given birth to more than 500 cards, some of which are among the most memorable.

Like any phenomenon impacting society, this universe has not failed to inspire artists around the world and will undoubtedly be even more present in creation in the future.

Exhibition in collaboration with Stéphane Toledano aka Cizayoxy.