Seiji Inagaki Inagaki
Vans
Undated
Pencil on paper
9 3/4 x 6 7/8 in (24.9 x 17.6 cm)
Courtesy of Reena Spaulings Fine Art
Seiji Inagaki (b.1942) is a well-known illustrator, particularly of Barazoku, Japan’s first commercially circulated and oldest gay men’s magazine (published from 1971 through 2008).
This work is likely from the late 80s or early 90s. Vans depicts a young boy’s his head, ears-pulled, below a pair of legs and feet (perhaps his own, perhaps not) shown in athletic gear and flanked by a baseball on the left and a basketball on the right. A speckled vertical line (a basketball pole?) bisects the image. The uncanny atmosphere is reminiscent of Surrealist photography and its subtle erotic dimension (it is unclear whether the boy is pulling his own ears or having them pulled by mysterious strangers offstage). The work’s apparent conventionality – a simple graphite drawing of a boy titled after a popular American clothing company – is undermined by strange juxtapositions and irregularities.
Provenance
Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York
Exhibitions
Art Basel 2025, Galerie Tenko Presents, June 16 – 22, 2025
See also
Seiji Inagaki at Galerie Tenko Presents, Tokyo, November 6 – 23, 2025