Kentaro Okawara's forthcoming exhibition is all about... Love

Fans of Japanese artist Kentaro Okawara rejoice: he’s readying himself for the opening of his first ever solo show here in the UK.

Running at Hackney’s Public Gallery 10 July-3 August, Hold Tight sees the hyper-productive It’s Nice That favourite using paintings, sculpture, drawings, and an innate interest in symmetry to explore… Love.

A representative for the gallery states that: “The exhibition continues Okawara’s long-held belief that making art is an expression of love and a means to connect with each other. Throughout the show, the notion of “connecting” manifests in a variety of ways; literally through the act of embracing referenced in the title, visually through Okawara’s focus on symmetry, and intelligibly through universal motifs.”

Anyone making the trip to the east London space can expect to see all manner of bright colours and super-stylised motifs. Or, as Public puts it: “In each piece, a cocktail of humans, creatures, and personified objects interact with each other in intimate and bizarre ways to create a world that can be endearingly engaged by all.”

While the work might not come on like the sort of lovey-dovey card you might pick up in Clinton’s on 13 February, who are we to say what true love looks like?