Moto de Kaneda

Akira is a Japanese animated film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, released on July 16, 1988, and based on his own manga. Set in Neo-Tokyo in 2019, it follows Kaneda, the leader of a motorcycle gang, and his friend Tetsuo, whose life changes after he comes into contact with a secret experiment. Kaneda’s red motorcycle, recognizable for its aerodynamic body, riding position and numerous graphic details, became one of animated science fiction’s most iconic vehicles. Its design represents a technological vision of the future shaped by Japan in the late 1980s.

The painting isolates the motorcycle from the movement and scale of the film, presenting it as an object to be examined closely. Its graphic markings and mechanical surfaces pass from animated fiction into the slow, physical medium of watercolor. Within Cosas simples, it belongs to a collection of imagined technologies that can feel as familiar as objects remembered from everyday life.