The Super Flat Hiroshima Nagasaki Mon Amour
06.17.05 (12:39 pm) [edit]I had been completely unimpressed by Takashi Murakami up until very recently: currently he has installed an exhibition titled Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture, which explores the postwar Japanese visual art scene. The theme of the show is to examine the trauma and fixation the Hiroshima & Nagasaki caused the whole culture.
Murakami is the Japanese artist who made his name by the 'superflat' theory, which analyses the extremely two dimensional Japanese visual culture rooted on cartoon and drawing or Luis Vitton that has got cutsey illustrations on it. Yes, he is the mastermind of the whole kitche syndrome from Japan. The materials he has produced so far might have been loaded with theories and strategies that I never knew or gave two shits on. All I know was this is not a stupid man.
However, his presence did not mean anything to me when his artworks appeared to be completely empty and shallow that only seemed to focuse on commodification. This commodification is made possible only when the commodity (values of the concept, ideas and craftworks) is trafficked and crossovered by rather an easy way: moving things from Far East to the US although this is always the necessary process of creating value out of what is taken for granted at the original location.
Murakami is not very favored among Japanese audiences for he has gained his fame in seemingly an easy way rather than paying certain sacrifice as an artist in a convetional way. Ironically, though, this seemed to be the inevitable process of shifting what was recognized as the 'sub' and 'trivial' culture into the main stream one, which involved certain group of people's recognition and validation. This case, the attention from Western world (as the authority) was inevitable: Murakami seemed to be very strategic and fierce in the 'class struggle of art'.
Now I have got more to think about this phenomenon regarding for Murakami and the theme he has presented in the exhibition. Because he seems to have collected all the attention to do at least one justice nobody ever brought about: to examine the trauma of the warfare of Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and represent the predicament Japan is still suffering for. I have always believed that Japan would never acquire their voice and self image back unless they confront the trauma the tribe suffer for even if there are so many things that abstract the obvious cause. Their relationship with US is one of the agenda that abstract the political vocabulary. Because the process of decolonization would involve the American side's recogtion and apology. The only vocabulary that would bring level relationship between two should be rememberd as the paradoxical proof of the predicament. All we know in the US is the brutal dismissal and the ignorance about the historical incident.
I have got to run: I am about to get out to catch the show in Japan Society. (to be contiued...