VLAB is pleased to present the solo exhibition “Love and nostalgia'' featuring new works by Ai Funaki that have never been shown before in an exhibition. The presentation also marks the artist's first solo exhibition with the gallery in Madrid.

The contemporary artist Ai Funaki was born in Tokyo, Japan where she is currently based. In Ai Funaki's world, black cats often appear in her paintings, peering skeptically from the window sill, laying around the dining tables, stretching within fresh linen, playing in the living room, wandering across rooftops tiptoeing through the city nightscape… their bright yellow eyes always look back, piercing through the night with determination.

In the exhibition “Love and nostalgia”, the artist expressed her love and nostalgia through her black cat "Joe" and her family. Joe is like Ai. “Joe” enters into the world of paintings and expresses them for her. This world depicted by Ai Funaki and the cats is a world overflowing of the warmth and kindness she felt when she was young. However, this warmth can turn into sadness and pain the more we get to know love, which is why the backgrounds of her paintings are gray and monochrome. Through her paintings, the artist aims to bring a kinder world to the public. After all, love is not something sad for her, but the treasure of life that she represents in her drawings and paintings.

“…I draw a world of black cats that reflects my thoughts. Keeping sensibility, the black cat appears everywhere, and is finished with a story”, states the artist.

The exhibition “Love and nostalgia” will be on view at VLAB through September 30th, 2023.