Events

The career of the talented and prolific cartoonist Taiyo Matsumoto will be explored through a full program of Festival events, headlined by an exhibition of original artwork and goods, to be held at and in conjunction with The Japan Foundation, Toronto. The gallery showing will run from May 10th through June 7th, 2013, with an official opening event on May 10th, and artist talk on May 11th.

Please join us for a special Artist Talk featuring Taiyo Matsumoto Saturday, May 11th, at 1PM, at The Japan Foundation. To guarantee a space, please RSVP at http://jftor.org/whatson/rsvp.php.

Full text about the event from the Japan Foundation:

Taiyo Matsumoto is an internationally renowned Japanese manga creator whose kinetic style and thoughtful, considered narratives have won him fans across the world. Drawing on a wide range of artistic influences from Japan and Europe, Matsumoto’s graphic novels evidence a deep knowledge and appreciation of the entire world of comics. Matsumoto is best known to English-reading audiences for his work Tekkon Kinkreet (Black & White), winner of the Eisner Award, North America’s most prestigious comics award. Tekkon Kinkreet was adapted into an animated fi lm in 2007, won the Tokyo Anime Award for Best Art Direction in 2008, and was nominated for a 2008 Academy Award.

His other English-language manga works include Blue Spring, GoGo Monster, No.5, and his brand new series Sunny which is debuting in May 2013. In Japan, Matsumoto has produced more than 40 volumes of manga, and has won the Japan Media Arts Festival prize, the Japan Cartoonists Association Award, and the 15th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, among other awards.

The World of Taiyo Matsumoto will showcase a diverse selection of original artworks from across Taiyo Matsumoto’s epic 25 year career, including original artworks used in the creation of his manga. In addition, the exhibit will explore the ways in which his manga have been adapted into other media, through film and animation, illustration art, and toys and character goods. While Taiyo Matsumoto has created a huge number of wholly unique worlds in his manga, they build into one World of Taiyo Matsumoto.

This event is produced by The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, with generous assistance from The Japan Foundation in Toronto, VIZ Media LLC., and Shogakukan Publishing.

Japan Foundation Weekend Gallery Hours:

• May 11 & 12, noon – 5 pm (Toronto Comic Arts Festival)
• May 25 & 26, 10 am – 5 pm (Doors Open Toronto
• June 1, noon – 5 pm

Japan Foundation Weekday Gallery Hours:

• Monday,Thursday – 11:30am-7:00pm
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday – 11:30am-4:30pm