Otaku and Contemporary Art
Returning to the question of how to fuse otaku culture with contemporary art and create a landing pad for its arrival on the western art scene, we must also ask how we can grant this hybrid universality. This has been my personal thesis as an artist since the time of my debut. However, as we have already outlined, otaku themselves are a radical, creative group who do not necessarily want to see their culture become widespread and who in fact take some measure of pride in its Galapagosized Japanese particularity. As a result, my efforts have always been met with discomfort. My otaku/contemporary art fusion project has been carried out through the curated exhibitions Superflat (2000, Pargo Gallery, Shibuya; 2001, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), Coloriage (2002, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris), and Little Boy (2005, Japan Society, New York), as well as my figure works like Project Ko2, Hiropon, ad My Lonesome Cowboy. In contrast to the reaction from Otaku, the International Association of Art Critics awarded Little Boy the Best Thematic Show prize for 2005 and my figure works have sold for high prices at auction, indicating that the fusion and translation of our culture had been met with appreciation and even gratitude in the west.
What this tells us is that people in the west want to know more about otaku. They have a need for translation. Despite this, otaku themselves continually refuse to reply to those needs. Perhaps this stems from a respect for bushido-like intangibility, a quality that was one prized by Japanese, and a fear that the Japanese soul will be exposed in a haphazard manner. Either way, the translation of otaku culture through contemporary art has yet to even begin.
The Arrival of Otaku Who Can Paint on Canvas
Of all the artists featured in this exhibition, the one who should astonish most is Oguchi. The mastery of oil painting and the programming of games both require a great deal of perseverance over long periods of time, which is why there has always been a technical breaking point preventing the mixing of the two genres. Well, behold, the advent of a painter who is capable of bridging that gap and translating the differences. Oguchi’s work looks at first glance as if it has been created with a pen tablet but he is able to recreate that touch in real time on canvas, a true test of an artist’s skill. I believe that his is a talent unseen by the world before now.
NaBaBa and Hiruki are of the same generation as Oguchi and both work as game creators. NaBaBa has done extensive research on American shooting games and yearns for the revival of Japanese games on the international circuit. His current endeavors in the game world seek to combine photo-realism with anime elements but when confronting the canvas, he renders the game world of his dreams with the techniques of oil painting. Hiruki’s work showcases, in lamen’s terms, the technique of an illustrator. He paints flowery images in watercolor on paper and canvas, cute young girls in a rapidly disintegrating world, the completion of a single calculation in the game formula.
Stag’s works show girls in the dress of Japan’s club scene conspiring together to lead lives of lethargy. The fish-eye lens quality warps the surface of the canvas, giving it a western, transparent edge; he shows us otaku as seen and understood from the eyes of subculture – a unique perspective that draws from his daily experience as the manager of a subculture store – and the lazy, haphazard manner in which the images are rendered makes them feel all the more real.
JNTHED is a generation older than the other others. While working as a mech-designer for the video game company Konami, he also began rebelling by opining against the capitalist establishment on the Internet. His actions made him a charismatic figure and led to his big break within the online illustration community. Soon however, he began to feel a gap between his own abstract tendencies and those of the otaku dojinshi community around him. His response was to study art and before long, he came knocking on the door of Kaikai Kiki where he is now carrying out intensive self-study. Currently, he is still struggling with the transfer of his skills from on-screen to canvas.
Lastly, there is Mr. At 42 years of age, he is 20 years older than NaBaBa, Oguchi, and Hiruki. Unable to draw with the skill of the other otaku around him, he had no roads open to him other than contemporary art and decided to use translation as a conceptual vehicle to create anime images. After sticking to this concept persistently for several years, he has managed to attract a fair number of hardcore fans in the west and Asia.
At its most basic level, the medium of contemporary requires an audience to go through the process of visiting a gallery or museum, standing in front of artwork and experiencing those emotions that the work is apt to draw. As such, there is a set and essential format for both the size of the work and its manner of display. The artists in this exhibition have been selected for their ability to meet that necessity.
