Aren't Racecar Drivers, Aliens & Superheroes Basically the Same Thing?
“It feels like they’ve just landed from another planet, with curious locals looking on, trying to make sense of it.” This is how digital artist Chris Labrooy describes a moment at the 1988 Isle of Man TT, a renowned annual motorcycle road racing event where one of the riders broke down in a remote field.
The rider in question was part of Team Ikuzawa, a Japanese racing team founded by famed driver Tetsu Ikuzawa. Now helmed by his daughter Mai Ikuzawa, the team acts as more of a fashion brand (collaborating wth everyone from Daniel Arsham to Tag Heuer), an art project, and an archive honoring racing heritage.
It’s latest project is a limited-edition capsule collection and series of art prints created in collaboration with Labrooy, inspired by pictures of that stranded rider at the 1988 Isle of Man TT.
“These photos became the foundation for a much bigger creative vision. They sparked the idea of reimagining Team Ikuzawa as a kind of superhero universe,” says Labrooy.
The Scottish artist has created a series where racing drivers turned superheroes, dressed in the white and red Team Ikuzawa racing suit, are placed in the centre of urban environments, towering over concrete buildings.
“As a brand born in the ’80s racing era, we wanted to pay homage not just to motorsports, but also to Japanese superhero culture, those zipped-up costume heroes fighting on miniature model sets,” says Mai Ikuzawa. “Celebrating these broader layers of Japanese culture is at the heart of what Team Ikuzawa stands for.”
Launching on April 17 exclusively at JUST AN IDEA Tokyo, curated by Sarah Andelman and Motofumi “POGGY” Kogi, is a capsule collection of merch — a track jacket, T-shirts, a limited-number of art prints, a baseball cap, and sticker packs — honoring the art made by Labrooy.
An in-store customization service also lets customers who purchase jackets choose the placement of patches. The pop-up is open until April 25 (including items from Team Ikuzawa’s mainline collection) before an online release of the Chris Labrooy collection on May 16.
