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Finestre sull'Arte
The Artwork
The Primavera in a Pop Key
In her reinterpretation of Botticelli’s Primavera, Tomoko Nagao transforms the Renaissance fresco into a kawaii kaleidoscope, populated by stylized figures whose faces have been reduced to neutral masks. The protagonists of the classical scene—Venus, the Graces, Flora, Zephyr, and Chloris—retain their original arrangement, but their garments and the entire setting are overtaken by decorative patterns, giving them the appearance of stylized characters devoid of individuality, as a symbol of a globalized society that flattens differences. Among the flowering branches appear Alitalia airplanes, Hello Kitty mascots, and colorful animals invading the natural scene, overlapping the original delicacy of the work.
Hidden among the vegetation and flowers, small volumes of Finestre sull’Arte also emerge, almost like bookmarks inviting the viewer to discover hidden details and reflect on the connection between traditional and contemporary culture. The allegorical refinement of the original work is likewise absorbed into a playful yet unsettling dimension, where the classical myth bends to the rules of mass society and the enchantment of nature becomes the backdrop for a colorful, lively celebration infused with ironic melancholy. Nagao thus reinterprets the Primavera as a symbol of our present, in which beauty and art are transformed into decorated, light, and consumable surfaces.
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Primavera after Botticelli with Alitalia and kitten
- 100x70cm horizontal
- Vector Art on Paper with transparent embossed UV-LED printing
- Limited edition of 100 copies, each signed and numbered by the artist, with a certificate of guarantee and authenticity issued by Finestre sull’Arte
€650 + shipping costs
(You will be redirected to the Finestre sull’Arte online shop)
Details
Click on the photos to explore the print quality and embossed details
ph: Paola Francesca Arpone
Tomoko Nagao
Eastern Tradition and Western Pop Culture in Neo-pop and Superflat Works
Tomoko Nagao lives and works in Milan. She graduated from the Chelsea College of Art & Design in London, earning an MA in Fine Art in 2003, and took part in the exhibition Botticelli Reimagined at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2016. Tomoko’s art embraces a cross-contamination of languages and aligns with the Neo-pop and Superflat cultural experience, capable of developing multilayered works that only appear simple at first glance. On a first level, we witness the fusion of Japanese anime tradition with the myths of Western culture, themselves already filtered through a long Pop lineage—from Caravaggio to Leonardo da Vinci, from Botticelli to Titian, Velázquez, the School of Fontainebleau, and Delacroix. Within this process of contamination and reinterpretation, icons of the contemporary world’s most famous brands emerge, introduced with a sense of irony and satire. A second interpretative level concerns her choice of traditional subjects, often focused on subtly erotic female figures or myths of Western beauty, reimagined through the kawaii aesthetic: figures that the artist seeks to redeem as heroic icons of femininity, long subjected to the stereotyped violence of the male gaze, from which they wish once and for all to break free and take center stage. This leads to a deeper, more personal dimension of her practice, tied to her own experience as a woman artist in the art world—with all the difficulties and ambiguities this entails—yet extending to the condition of contemporary Japanese women, increasingly fragile and yet skillful at concealing their deepest struggles behind a cheerful and carefree façade.
Tomoko x Finestre
A special collaboration
Since 2009, Finestre sull’Arte has been a magazine devoted to spreading art and culture, connecting art history, exhibitions, and cultural tourism. For years we have participated in the TTG Rimini fair, continuing our commitment to promoting cultural experiences.
For the 2025 edition, we wanted to treat ourselves to a special installation: a work measuring about 5×3 meters, created for us by Tomoko Nagao. The choice is no coincidence — 2025 is the year of the Expo in Japan, and since Danae Project, the publishing company behind Finestre sull’Arte, is based in Tuscany, we wanted to build an ideal bridge between our culture and the Japanese one. The result is this reinterpretation of the Primavera.
Tomoko Nagao, a Japanese artist based in Milan, has reinterpreted Botticelli’s Primavera, transforming the Renaissance composition into a work that blends classical and contemporary elements, Western art, and motifs typical of Japanese pop culture. Her reinterpretation preserves the harmony and arrangement of the original figures but introduces decorative patterns, vibrant colors, and symbols of the present.
The result is a remarkable artwork that we have decided to reproduce in 100 signed and numbered copies by the artist, now available exclusively on this website.
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Get your numbered copy now
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Primavera after Botticelli with Alitalia and kitten
- 100x70cm horizontal
- Vector Art on Paper with transparent embossed UV-LED printing
- Limited edition of 100 copies, each signed and numbered by the artist, with a certificate of guarantee and authenticity issued by Finestre sull’Arte
€650 + shipping costs
(You will be redirected to the Finestre sull’Arte online shop)