Metal

Toku chan likes to look up was an exhibition of Japonisme by Lee Baker at TAP, Old Water Works, North Road, Southend On Sea SS0 7AB, between 10th - 26th March 2010.

Toku chan is an anime character created as the alter ego of the artist. It is through Toku chan’s eyes that Lee Baker presented us with his exhibition of lush visuals, animation, music and toys.  The result of a fascination with Japanese art and its ability to simultaneously influence and absorb western culture, Toku chan inhabits an exclusively positive world populated with brightly coloured thoughts.  Japanese culture has been a fascination for Baker for many years, from Utamaro Hiroshige and Jakuchu, with their influence on C19th European artists, Art Nouveau, Manga, Japanese film, Textile Design, Graffiti, British Engraving and Pop Art all find their way into his work,  as well as influences from modern Artists such as Takashi Murakami and Yamaguchi Akira.

Working outside his established discipline of music composition and production (he is best known for his production work with James top 10 album ‘Hey Ma’, 2008 and ‘The Night Before’ release date April 2010) Lee was supported by Metal, to develop his ideas visually, and present them within a gallery context for the first time.

Exciting collaborations with award-winning animator Kidda and costume designer Holly Murray resulted in specially commissioned contributions to the exhibition.

Lee Baker
Best known for his work in music, Lee has produced the last two James albums – ‘Hey Ma’ in 2008 and ‘The Night Before’ released in April 2010. He has written with a diversity of solo artists including national beatbox champion Beardyman, and break beats artist Kidda. He has composed music for television, with credits including the rebranding of ITV2 and the BBC’s award-winning Arena documentaries. Prior to this Lee made his mark as a scenic artist working at both the National Theatre and the English National Opera. He designed the sets for several of the late Ken Campbell’s solo shows, most notably The History of Comedy part 1 – Ventriloquism, performed at the National Theatre in 2000.

Kidda
An acclaimed animator whose work, ‘Teddy Bear’, went on tour with the British Animation Awards 2010, Kidda was collaborating with Lee to produce a short animation which took place in Toku chan’s synthetic world. Titled ‘Toku chan likes colour’, this short was set to a piece of music created by Toku chan himself.

Holly Murray
For this exhibition Lee collaborated with sculptor and costume designer, Holly Murray, to re-create a Toku chan as a soft sculpture. Holly has previously created numerous costumes for contemporary dance, opera and theatre, including work with Glyndebourne, Oily Cart Productions and Liz Aggiss.