'Contemporary Outlook: Japan' at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 23:42

Boston, MA - The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents Contemporary Outlook: Japan, an exhibition featuring a selection of about 30 works created by Japanese artists between World War II and the present. Spanning a variety of media, by artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami, the show also includes a number of younger artists whose works use kawaii, or the quality of being “cute,” to explore their society and culture. On exhibition through 10 February, 2008.

Western styles such as pop, minimalism, and feminist art are visible in the works, but the results are also uniquely Japanese in interests and approach. This exhibition highlights a particularly fertile period of artistic experimentation in Japan, one that has generated a unique blend of ideas and forms from East and West.

Since Japan dropped its longstanding policy of national isolation in the 1850s, there has been an immensely creative give-and-take between the cultures of Japan and the West. After World War II, many Japanese artists began working in art forms derived from the international scene, moving away from local traditions. At the same time, traditional subject matter and styles endured. While some artists explored new styles using traditional media, others embraced Western materials and subject matters.

In recent years, Takashi Murakami has emerged as a central figure in contemporary art. Murakami’s work reflects his integration of traditional Japanese painting with contemporary artistic thought and a keen awareness of current Japanese culture. He earned a Ph.D. in nihon-ga, a style of painting developed in 19th-century Japan that is itself a synthesis of several influences, including elements of Chinese and Western art. But equally important to Murakami’s work is his enthusiasm for anime (animation) and manga (cartoons), whose obsessed fans have created a subculture (called otaku) of young people in Japan. In 1993, responding to the overwhelming presence in Japanese society of kawaii, Murakami unveiled his own cartoon character: Mr. DOB. This character can be seen in the painting If the Double Helix Wakes Up... (2002) included in the exhibition.

Recent years have seen much discussion about the role of kawaii as a façade, a way of hiding a darker side of contemporary Japan and its history. A number of young, mostly female artists have been making artwork that uses kawaii to explore the tumultuous society around them. In this exhibition, examples of kawaii can be seen in Chinatsu Ban’s colorful fiberglass elephant Fish Eyes - Sixth of Ten Brothers (2005), as well as Akino Kondoh’s anime Ladybirds’ Requiem 3-07 (2006) featuring a young girl sewing buttons that transform into ladybugs. Through paintings, drawings, photographs, animation, and handicrafts, these artists have been looking at Japanese culture from a female perspective by presenting kawaii as a form of escapism and distraction in a culture known for its strict social codes.

CONTEMPORARY OUTLOOK: RELATED EXHIBITION AND ORGANIZATION
Contemporary Outlook is an exciting new series of small focused exhibitions, drawn mainly from the MFA collections, that will examine trends, issues, ideas and new ways of looking at art and artists that have emerged in recent years. Also on view in the Rabb Gallery is the exhibition Contemporary Outlook: German Photography, featuring about 20 works created by German photographers during the 20^th century. Both exhibitions are organized by William Stover, assistant curator in the MFA’s Contemporary Art Department.

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