PROFILE

A live painting duo comprising the artists Bakibaki and Mon. They have been active in Kyoto since 2001, working based on the concept of “Pursuing a form of expression as a duo, that is neither the individual nor society.” While doing everything from live painting events at clubs and festivals to murals and installations at stores and public buildings, they also do a variety of collaborations with companies.

DATE

2019

MEDIUM

acrylic, emulsion paint

DIMENSIONS

H296×W450cm

STATEMENT

DOPPEL is a live painting duo originating in Kyoto and consisting of Bakibaki and Mon. We are pioneers who were practicing this live painting before this style of art was really well established.
“Live” in Japanese refers primarily to live musical performances, so it is appropriate that our painting style developed alongside music. Like the improvisation of jazz, we would go with the flow of whatever setting we are in, carving out portraits that could only ever come into being there and then.
By applying the “sampling” well-known from hip-hop to our painting, we incorporate famous people and characters into our own work. We have created series by Googling portraits and adopting motifs of the gods and heroes of that particular land, in addition to exhibiting works that take Asian yin-yang and tai-chi as their motifs.

ABOUT MUSIC AND ART

Starting in the early 2000s, DOPPEL—an artistic team composed of Bakibaki and Mon—have been live-painting at clubs and the like. When we started out, the album we listened to when improvising like at a jam session was Richie Hawtin’s DE9 | Closer to the Edit. We did our first live painting performance at a drum and bass party. We became deeply connected to club music like techno, house, hip hop, dub, and so on, creating images with the influence of cross-genre DJs’ mixes. We have a lot of interaction with musicians and DJs, doing things like designing the jacket for DJ Top Bill + Shing02’s Avatar.

DOPPEL PLAYLIST