Atsushi Kaga – Japanese “Kawaii” Comic Art

Atsushi Kaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1978 and now lives in New York. He studied at the Tama Art Institute in Tokyo and at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin until 2005.

The colourful and comic-like pictures of Kaga are populated with funny figures led by Usacchi, the artist’s alter ego. Usacchi is a cute but mischievous rabbit, his friend Kumacchi is a drug-addicted bear injured in a car accident. So on second glance the observer will discover the quite human personalities of Kagas figures. The scenes of the “kawaii” (Japanese: cute) world of Usacchi are not idyllic but transport an earnest message.