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Indepth Arts News:
"My Reality: Contemporary Art and the Culture of Japanese Animation"
2002-04-21 until 2002-06-23
Tampa Museum of Art
Tampa, FL,
USA United States of America
Japanese animation (anime), which has attained almost cult
status among young people globally during the past several
decades, is increasingly breaking into mainstream. This
exhibition investigates the effect that this form of pop culture has
had on today’s art in Japan and other Asian countries and in the
West. Presenting works by artists from these different regions,
the exhibition explores how Western and Eastern artists have
influenced one another through their shared interest in the
culture of anime.
While anime has its
origins in American
animation, it is equally
connected to Japanese art
history, particularly the
technique of wood-block
printing. The exhibition
features sci-fi concepts
including futuristic
technology, cyborgs and
other humanoid robotics,
aliens and fantastical
creatures, and
post-apocalyptic
landscapes. It also plumbs
social and economic
themes such as gender
roles, consumerism, and
pop culture. Much anime
has a futuristic flavor
because it affirms
technology as a positive
force in contemporary
society. Anime initially
became popular through
comic books and film, later
expanding to include
phenomena such as
Pokemon and similar
animated series.
The works on view range
from Paul McCarthy’s
cartoon characters to
Micha Klein’s glossy
images inspired by club
culture; and from Takashi
Murakami’s sculpture,
which uses anime directly,
to Momoyo Torimitsu’s
enormous balloon rabbits,
which satirize anime’s
exaggeratedly cute
images.
My Reality: Contemporary Art and the Culture of Japanese Animation originated at the Des Moines Art
Center, curated by Jeff Fleming, senior curator, and Susan Lubowsky Talbott, director. The traveling
exhibition is organized and circulated by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York. The
exhibition at the Des Moines Art Center was made possible by support from the Jacqueline and Myron
Blank Exhibition Fund of the Des Moines Art Center, The Bright Foundation, the Lila Wallace Reader’s
Digest Fund, and the Greater Des Moines Community Foundation. Additional funding for the traveling
exhibition was provided by the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam and the Consulate General of the
Netherlands in New York.
IMAGE:
Momoyuo Torimitsu
Somehow I Don't Feel Comfortable, 2000
Rubber
The Dikeou Collection, NY
Courtesy of Galarie Xippas, Paris, France.
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