MEDSAN - Thunder God Pikachu (雷神ピカチュウ) - UNIQUE WORK

ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD - EDITION 1/1

With this vertical-format artwork, Medsan places Pikachu, the electric mascot of the Pokémon franchise, in the skin of Raijin, the god of thunder in the Shinto pantheon. The character leaps over a valley of rice fields, wearing his taiko drum crown and brandishing his mallets, exactly as in the famous Fūjin Raijin-zu screen by Tawaraya Sōtatsu. The red cartouche in the upper left announces 雷神ピカチュウ, in the style of Edo-period print titles.

The treatment follows the codes of woodblock-engraved ukiyo-e prints: strong black outline, flat color fields, fine hatching for the fur, and diagonal rain lines over the flooded fields. The deliberately muted palette lets the indigo of swirling clouds, the beige of aged washi paper, and three touches of red — the cheeks, the tip of the ears, the cartouche — guide the reading diagonally. The lower landscape, snow-capped mountain, gnarled pine, and thatched roofs, evokes views by Hokusai and Hiroshige, while the kimono with lightning motifs and the hanko seal at the bottom right complete the vocabulary of the classical print.

The mashup works because it doesn’t force anything: Pikachu’s Thunder attack and Raijin’s lightning tell the same story four centuries apart. Medsan makes visible the lineage between Japanese folklore and the icons that Japan itself exported to the world. At the bottom of the composition, three villagers raise their hands toward the sky: it is both the Edo spectator’s gaze before the kami and that of the child before his first Pokémon.

A graphic, immediately legible piece, ideal for adding a touch of Japanese elegance and pop culture to the interior of a collector devoted to bridges between tradition and contemporary imagination.

Technical specifications:
Artist: Medsan
Reference: Pokémon / Pikachu / Raijin / ukiyo-e / Sōtatsu / thunder god / Japanese print
Dimensions: 40 x 60 cm
Edition: Unique artwork — 1/1 (unique edition in the world)
Year: 2026
Support: Giclée mounted on wooden frame (approximately 2 cm thick)
Signature: Yes, hand-signed
Condition: Excellent condition
Certificate: Certificate of authenticity (on request)

About the Studio:
Atelier Joconde is a studio of artists gathered around a living, plural, contemporary creation. Established as a true place of artistic production, the studio operates both in collective creation and in individual approaches, depending on projects and works. Atelier Joconde is also a family venture. Le Yack, a contemporary figurative painter, develops a narrative and introspective body of work with cinematic and realistic influences. At his side, Medsan, oriented toward pop art painting, explores color, modern iconography and visual culture. Finally, Neo Pablo engages in a more instinctive pursuit, blending abstract art, outsider art and figurative abstraction. Each work is conceived, created and followed within the studio, with a common artistic standard and an identity of its own for each artist.

Keywords:
Medsan, Atelier Joconde, Le Yack, Pokémon, Pikachu, Raijin, Ukiyo-e, Japanese Print, Thunder God, Japanese Folklore, Pop Art, Vertical Format, Contemporary, Unique Work, 1/1