Urban artist collective Soulful Gallery has been commissioned by brand experience company N2O to supply the backdrop for Japan’s prime brew, Kirin Ichiban’s pop-up Yatai restaurant in the Dray Walk Gallery, Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London. This will be in-situ from 3rd - 8th August.
Soulful Gallery artists Koze, Squirl, Matt Latchford and Dan Wilson brought their unique urban art styles into full effect to create a downtown Tokyo street scene for the event. The result is a series of Japanese inspired street art walls – complete with hand painted brickwork, graffiti, peeling posters and fantastical traditional and kawaii characters.
Soulful founder and veteran graffiti artist Koze says, “We had serious fun painting the pieces at the studio, mixing up our unique styles to create an edgy but realistic street vibe that we felt wouldn’t look out of place in Tokyo whilst at the same time keeping real to our own work. We often work on a large scale but at 22m long and 2.5m high this is our largest piece to date. It took a lot of planning to get every detail right including the brick work, however people’s response has been fantastic.”
Bringing the Japanese street setting to life was what drove the decision to work with Soulful Gallery, according to Creative Director at N2O, Heather Devany. “Soulful Gallery took our original creative brief and created an amazing backdrop for the Yatai. Their attention to detail is astonishing and their mixture of fresh and individual styles creates exactly the urban street effect we wanted. All the artists at Soulful Gallery have been responsive to our feedback, and a genuine pleasure to work with.”
Designed to engage all the senses, the Kirin Ichiban Yatai is a unique collaboration between premium Japanese beer brand, Kirin Ichiban; top London Japanese chefs, Yasuhiro Mineno and Shinya Ikeda; exciting short film makers entered in the Kirin First Cut film competition; contemporary art collective, Soulful Gallery; post-earthquake, fundraising, Play for Japan; brand placement agency, Be Communications, and experiential agency, N2O Limited. Working together, they have created a pop up Yatai bringing together the old traditions of Japan with new creativity and technology.
The bespoke Japanese street art walls created uniquely for this exciting pop up Yatai experience are being auctioned to raise money for the Japan Society Tohuku Earthquake Relief Fund. For the opportunity to own a piece of this unique work, just go to this website - you can bid until 23:00 BST Monday 8th August 2011.
