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Lingerie Wrestling by TOMOO GOKITA
Published March 2000 by Little More
Paperback, 190 pages
ISBN: 9784898150191

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More than ten years after its release, one of the first book by TOMOO GOKITA published in limited edition was waiting me peacefully in a second-hand bookshop of Basel. This gorgeous softcover volume binding together charcoal and ink drawings makes me feel to have found a treasure!

Born in Tokyo in 1969, TOMOO GOKITA had his first major exhibition at Tokyo’s Parco Gallery in 2000, with releasing his remarkable book “Lingerie Wrestling” published by Little More. At that time he was mostly making drawings, but he was also experimenting of painting, which led to the development of his distinctive, freeform black and white images. His work mixes a range of references, from lingerie, calligraphy and Western pin-up girls, to professional wrestling, third rate porn and beer. The results are both noirish and surreal.

Lingerie Wrestling doesn’t have any story. It is really like a diary I kept when I was poor. There was no initial plan to make Lingerie Wrestling into a book. Every day, I draw things I like to draw, as well as things I care about. This book simply gathers all of these drawings.- by TOMOO GOKITA