Komorebi Eterno at Eikyô Magazine

As every trimester, coinciding with each season of the year, the magazine Eikyô, Japanese influences, publishes a new issue that brings together various articles on culture, art, gastronomy, literature, architecture or other manifestations that are influenced in the West by Japanese culture, and vice versa.

In the recent issue Eikyô 46 - Spring '23 readers will enter Laberinto Gris from page 32 thanks to PhD. Philosophy specialized in Aesthetics and Theory of Japanese Art, Jaime Romero Leo, who wrote a brilliant article about our recent exhibition Komorebi Eterno and the influences that artists Luis Royo and Romulo Royo receive from the Eastern world reflected in their art.

As Jaime Romero comments, "The work of Luis Royo and Romulo Royo can be placed as an exponent of what, in the art world, has been called Neo-Japanism: that anachronistic tangle of influences that orbit around Japan but that also capture certain Western and Asian influences and that, despite everything, continues to maintain a strong Japanese aroma".

In works such as Romulo Royo's Your Sexy Beast or Mickey Mouse Exists, we can see these influences peeking through the figures of Doraemon, Star Wars, Pikachu or Mickey Mouse among the artist's brushstrokes.

However, it is not only the Japanese pop culture that is brought through the brushes of the artists, "both traditional arts such as shibari, and representative figures of traditional Japanese history, as Tomoe Gozen have a place in their canvases and illustrations," says Romero, giving way to series such as The Green House by Luis Royo or Tomoe Gozen by Romulo Royo.

There is no doubt that through Fantasy Art, one can travel to other distant and imaginary worlds, and it is thanks to what in Japan is known as mediamix, that these worlds become tangible, as Jaime Romero explains: "This formula is known in Japan as mediamix, and designates the unique ecosystem generated in Japan between manga publishers, anime studios, manufacturers of resin figures, video game studios, toy manufacturers, etc., that make the graphic universe transcend the pages, for example, of a manga, to make the leap to this multimedia environment that allows us to read about our favorite characters, play video games starring them, collect them, trade them, exchange them, decorate our shelves with them, etc." This is how the fantastic universe of Luis Royo and Romulo Royo, has escaped from their canvases and papers, and has crept into our lives to stay and live in our memories.

The article reflects on the transcendence of Japanese aesthetics and the influx of influences between East and West, which is why we consider it an essential reading to know in depth not only the Komorebi Eterno exhibition but also the inner world of the artists. You can find the issue for sale on the magazine's official website www.eikyo.es.

Special thanks to Jaime Romero for his untiring thirst for knowledge and brilliant writing and to Eikyô magazine for making room for us in its pages.

You can check out PhD. Jaime Romero and Eikyô magazine links below:

Jaime Romero

Instagram: @jaime.ro.leo 

Twitter: @JaimeRoLeo

E-Mail: jaimeromeroleo@gmail.com

Revista Eikyô

Instagram: @revista_eikyo

Twitter: @revista_eikyo

E-Mail: info@eikyo.es