Freshly back from speaking at this year’s AGIdeas conference, Melbourne-based artist Andrea Innocent (a.k.a. innocentgirl) recounts her interpretation of Japanese ghost stories at the Japan Foundation Gallery this June.

Innocent traverses imaginative worlds from the idiosyncrasies of otaku to folklore and reality TV in search of eccentric stories that populate her work. It was after time spent in Japan that Innocent chose to tell her stories of the bizarre and quirky through detailed digital illustration. Many of her stories reflect the post-modern world; parodied or retold in modern settings.

In Love, Thieves and Fear Make Ghosts: old tales and new forms of Japanese ghosts, Innocent explores aspects of Japanese folklore in a contemporary context with styles borrowed heavily from the traditions of ukiyo-e (floating pictures) and manga (comics), and subsequent contemporary approaches such as Superflat, Steampunk and Neo-Nihonga.

Eight limited edition prints accompanied alongside a video projection of ‘found’ sounds and images from Japan will create echoes of eeriness heightening levels of curiosity, contemplation and connection with the viewer as they encounter ghosts of their own.

Visitors have the opportunity to meet Innocent on Wednesday 17 June, from 11am – 4pm at the Japan Foundation Gallery. Alternatively, they can also log onto an interactive website, Innocent’s own blog http://innocentgirl.wordpress.com to participate and submit their own stories, links and supernatural occurrences.

Andrea Innocentis one of the three selected finalists of the Japan Foundation, Sydney’s new artist program, Facetnate! Other finalists include Pip & Pop (WA) who exhibited last month and Gemma Cuneo (NSW) who will be exhibiting her work in August.

Andrea Innocent (VIC)

Andrea Innocent is currently showing a new series of works at Lamington Drive Gallery in Melbourne.

She was a contributor to last year’s YEN-produced Curvy 5 Sweet Dreams for Queen Bees, a part of the Grrls exhibition at Ambush Gallery, Sydney 2008 and was a semi-finalist in the 2007 Cut & Paste Digital Design Tournament in Sydney.