David Blandy offers journey to the far East in new exhibition

By Mark Sheerin on Culture 24

David Blandy's new show in the West country deals with his fascination with the East. His eponymous Passage of the Soul might be a compulsive journey to Japan.

Recent works have questioned the origins of his passion for manga and kung fu. It is tantalising to think that the time his grandfather spent in a POW camp has given rise to Blandy's Japanophilia, as if by Stockholm Syndrome at two generations removed.

According to family legend, what saved Blandy senior's life was the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is a troubling nugget of information which the artist explored in his part manga film/part travelogue Child of the Atom.

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David Blandy, Passage of the Soul at Phoenix Gallery Fri 3 Feb - Sat 17 Mar and is FREE!