Central Ishinomaki Area

This is the central part of Ishinomaki city. Located in the shopping area is Kimawasi-so of Ishinomaki, which was founded by artist Kaoru Arima in 2017. On the middle ground of Kitakami River is Ishinomori Manga Museum, and manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori’s character monuments are dotted about along the manga road leading to the museum.

Area THEME

Manga Road and Art Road of the City

Kaoru Arima

Ishinomaki City is home to the Ishinomori Manga Museum and Manga Road.
The concept of Reborn-Art Festival 2019 is to bring an “art road” to the city.
This is a continuation of the concept I adopted for RAF 2017
— to ensure the Ishinomaki art scene continues after the art festival.
For this reason, artists from Ishinomaki are at the center of this year’s curation.
Gathering Ishinomaki artists, we will plant seeds, nurture them, and wait for new buds to emerge.
There may already be artists who blossom in this exhibition. In addition,
with the birth of a new art space, dots will connect to make a line—an “art road.” Moreover,
in Ishinomaki, whose concept embodies “manga thinking,”
the characters of Shotaro Ishinomori can be seen throughout the town.
They can be seen as an expansion of his world-view.
In this exhibition, we will consider what “manga” and “manga thinking” means to Ishinomaki.

CURATOR

Kaoru Arima

Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1969. Based in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture. He works mainly on drawing, also on painting and sculpture. He runs Kiwamari-so Project.
“To see”, Queer Thoughts, New York (Solo exhibition, 2018), “Reborn-Art Festival 2017”, Ishinomaki city (Group exhibition, 2017), “Face of a human”, MISAKO & ROSEN, Tokyo (Solo exhibition, 2015), “Rainbow”, Queer Thoughts, Nicaragua (Group exhibition, 2015), “Now Japan”, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands (Group exhibition, 2013), “The Age of Micropop: The New Generation of Japanese Artists”, Art Tower Mito Contemporary Gallery, Mito (Group exhibition, 2007), “54th Carnegie International”, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (Group exhibition, 2004)

ARTIST

＜Art Road＞

ART DRUG CENTER ＠ART DRUG CENTER