The (sub) culture and mythology of Japan and historical happenings are a great motif for EXCALIBUR’s work. Besides, he takes great interest in the gap between ‘Virtual’ and ‘Reality’.
EXCALIBUR is an artist collective from Tokyo, Japan, founded in 2007 by Yoshinori Tanaka. EXCALIBUR comes from Final Fantasy. It is the strongest weapon one can get and it is a weapon everyone can share. Something Yoshinori aimed for with his collective: become a place where everyone can use the same tool.
It is also the sword of King Arthur making it an international term and one people from various nationalities can relate to and feel included.
EXCALIBUR's pixel art is strongly influenced by the graphic appearance of Nintendo in the 1980s and by the golden age of video games. As a base, they use the same 8bit pixel as the video games of that time giving its work a strong sense of nostalgia. Simultaneously EXCALIBUR emphasizes the advanced technology of our modern times.
Also the (sub) culture and mythology of Japan and historical happenings are a great motif for the work of EXCALIBUR work. In 2018 they even made an exhibition in Naruko Tenjinsha Shrine, in Tokyo.
At last, they take great interest in the gap between ‘Virtual’ and ‘Reality’ and they strongly believe the field in between these two is an ever-closing one. Creating a work based on a past event, EXCALIBUR aims to create a moment that becomes more real. To them, the distance between an historical event and oneself is similar to the distance between a screen and oneself. Here, the (often 8bit) pixel serves as the door between real and virtual.
EXCALIBUR has exhibited works in Tokyo, Taipei, Beijing and Paris. In 2017 its founder Yoshinori Tanaka won the ‘Grand Prize’ (Art Category) of Kyoto International Film and Art Festival and in the following years he won the Shibuya Pixel Art ‘Excellence Award’ 3 times, of which the last time was in 2021.
Being an active creator of digital art, EXCALIBUR has been involved in NFT from the very beginning. In 2021 they were part of a single online art fair, the Cyber Beijing Digital Art Festival.