On March 11, the exhibition Komorebi Eterno: Japan through Fantasy Art by Romulo Royo and Luis Royo, curated by PhD. Jaime Romero Leo and PhD. David Almazán Tomás, opened at the Centro Cultural Hispano-Japonés de la Universidad de Salamanca (CCHJ). This exhibition headed the opening of the XXIII Japan Cultural Week organized by the CCHJ. The Ambassador of Japan, Nakamae Takahiro, enjoyed the opening remarks of Dr. Romero and the artists, who introduced visitors to some explanations and keys to understanding the complex artistic world of the Royos and their connection with Japanese culture.
On display in the Aula Magna “H.M. The Empress Michiko” of the CCHJ, in Salamanca, the exhibition can be enjoyed until April 30 from 11 am to 1:30 pm and from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
The exhibition shows works that the artists have made both together and separately, and that belong to different series developed throughout their extensive artistic careers. Thus, the selected works belong to their large-scale project Malefic Time, Dead Moon and Dead Moon Epillogue, which have also been expanded through a transmedia or media-mix process.
This is the term that Jaime Romero Leo, PhD in Philosophy and Japanese Aesthetics, uses to refer to the aesthetic universe that the artists have generated and to which other creators have joined, not only through their books of illustrations and paintings, but also through manga (Soum, by Kenny Ruiz), figures (by the company Yamato USA), music records (by the renowned group Avalanch), I Ching decks (made and distributed by Fournier), role-playing games and a wide etcetera.
“The idea behind Komorebi Eterno is to show all the pieces of oriental inspiration that the artists Luis Royo and Romulo Royo have made both together and separately, with very different and distinctive styles that are mixed in several book publications such as Dead Moon, Dead Moon Epilogue, Malefic Time 110 Katanas or Tokyo 2038 and exhibitions and international fairs such as Art Miami, Gige Beijing China, ARCO Madrid, etc.” commented Laberinto Gris Art Gallery, one of the organizers of the exhibition together with the CCHJ and the University of Salamanca.The work Oración III, created jointly by both artists, is part of a series made for Dead Moon, being Oración I (work belonging to the series) auctioned at the Womanity Foundation organized in Switzerland by the renowned Simon de Pury alongside prestigious galleries such as Acquavella, Miguel Marcos and Gagosian.
Some of the exhibited pieces were created in three different studios in Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza, and many of their Japanese influences are born after the collaboration between Luis Royo and Romulo Royo to make Dead Moon.
Soon, both would incorporate the extreme oriental culture and aesthetics in their individual series, giving rise to a very suggestive mixture of plastics and influences.
Romulo Royo’s Tomoe Gozen series, for example, focuses on the female samurai warrior, or onna bugeisha, who fought during the Genpei Wars (12th century), which pitted the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans against each other during feudal Japan. Tomoe Gozen is mentioned several times in the Song of Heike, an epic poem from the 12th century that narrates the events of the war, which inspired numerous poems, books, films, and also the work of Romulo Royo.
Your Sexy Beast also by Romulo Royo, presents the connections between American and Japanese pop culture, showing some of the influences that the artist had as a child, such as Star Wars, Doraemon, comic culture, etc., all of them present in his series along with I Love Bam! and Born to Kill. We also see these cultural influences in Romulo’s other works in paintings such as DEMO-CRAZY or his Flowers and Thorns series, as well as Goddesses of Nibiru.
The Japanese inspiration never completely disappears from Royo’s work, as it continues to appear even in personal projects, through headdresses, clothing, poses and faces that continue to remind us of the captivating heritage of that Asian country.
After the opening of the exhibition, on March 12, a conversation was organized between the artists and curator Jaime Romero in the Aula Magna of the Centro Cultural Hispano-Japonés in which they could chat in front of the public about the exhibition, the Japanese influences that flood the works that are part of it, and those pop culture icons, both Western and Japanese, to which the artists resort so much in their work, incorporating them along with elements of folklore and Japanese tradition. The discussion was attended by more than 70 people, who joined the debate with their comments and questions, showing that Japanese culture, in connection with the Royo’s Fantasy Art, has caused a deep impact among the people of Salamanca who, during the month of March and April can go free of charge to see Komorebi Eterno in the exhibition hall “S. M. The Empress Michiko” of the Centro Cultural Hispano Japonés (CCHJ) in Salamanca (11 am to 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.)
