Modern art of japan anime and manga. Exploding Kawaii: How to Understand Contemporary Japanese Art

An interesting exhibition is going on in the Hermitage - Modern Art Japan "MONO-NO AWARE. Charm of things".

To say that I am a fan of contemporary art - I can not. I like it better when there is something to look at (busy graphics, or arts and crafts, ethnos is my everything). Admiring the beauty of a pure concept is not always fun for me. (Malevich, sorry! I don't like Black Square!)

But today I got to this exhibition!

Precious, if you are in St. Petersburg, interested in art and have not been there yet, then the exhibition will be until February 9th! Go, because it's interesting!

Concepts convince me a little, as I wrote above. I somehow thought that in a year of visiting modern exhibitions, one or two objects seem funny to me at most. And many things do not touch me so much that I feel sorry for the time that I spent. But it is in any genre, in any art, the percentage of the ratio of talent and mediocrity, it's good if it's one in ten! But I liked this show.

Japanese creations were placed in the exhibition halls of the General Staff. The first installation that greets visitors is an incredible labyrinth filled with salt on the floor. Gray floor, white salt, incredibly neatly marked space, woven into one field. Big showroom, and a white ornament spread across the floor like some amazing loach. And you understand how temporary this art is. The exhibition will close, the maze will be swept away with a broom. I once watched the movie, "Little Buddha". And there, at the beginning, a Buddhist monk laid out a complex ornament from colored sand. And at the end of the film, the monk made a sharp movement with his brush and the titanic work dissipated in the wind. That was, then hop, and no. And it says, appreciate the beauty here and now, everything is fleeting. So this labyrinth of salt, it enters into a dialogue with you, you begin to answer the questions that he puts you in front of. The artist is Motoi Yamamoto.

Yes Yes! This is such a big maze, did you feel the scale?

The second object that captivates is the huge dome made of polyethylene and black resin by Yasuaki Onishi. Unusually decided space. On the black thinnest uneven threads of resin hangs, slightly moving, a dome .... or a mountain with a complex relief. When you go inside, you see a motley pattern of dots - places where the resin sticks. It's funny, as if the black rain is silently falling, and you are under the canopy.

How did this technique come about? Funny, right? But live it looks more "alive", the dome sways slightly from the breeze created by passing visitors. And there is a feeling of your interaction with the object. You can enter the "cave", see from the inside how it is!

But in order not to get the impression that everything was only black and white, I will post here a couple more photos of the composition, made from hoops connected together. Such colored funny plastic curls! And also, you can go through this room, inside the hoops, or you can look at everything from the outside.

These items are my favorite. Of course, soon conceptual contemporary art will become different, consonant with the new time. It will not return to the old, and will not remain as it is now. It will change. But in order to understand what was, where the stream was rushing and what and where it comes from, you need to know what is happening now. And do not shy away that nooo, the concept is not for me, but try to see it and evaluate it. There are few talents, as always, but they are there. And if the exhibits resonate, then all is not lost!!!

Art and design

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01.02.18 09:02

Today's art scene in Japan is very diverse and provocative: looking at the work of masters from the Country rising sun You will think that you have landed on another planet! It is home to innovators who have changed the landscape of the industry on a global scale. Here is a list of 10 contemporary Japanese artists and their creations, from the incredible creatures of Takashi Murakami (who is celebrating his birthday today) to the colorful universe of Kusama.

From futuristic worlds to dotted constellations: contemporary Japanese artists

Takashi Murakami: traditionalist and classic

Let's start with the hero of the occasion! Takashi Murakami is one of Japan's most iconic contemporary artists, working on paintings, large-scale sculptures and fashion. Murakami's style is influenced by manga and anime. He is the founder of the Superflat movement, which supports Japanese artistic traditions and postwar culture. Murakami promoted many of his fellow contemporaries, we will also get to know some of them today. "Subcultural" works by Takashi Murakami are presented in the fashion and art art markets. His provocative My Lonesome Cowboy (1998) was sold in New York at Sotheby's in 2008 for a record $15.2 million. Murakami has collaborated with world famous brands Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton and Issey Miyake.

Tycho Asima and her surreal universe

A member of the art production company Kaikai Kiki and the Superflat movement (both founded by Takashi Murakami), Chiho Ashima is known for her fantasy cityscapes and weird pop creatures. The artist creates surrealistic dreams inhabited by demons, ghosts, young beauties depicted against the backdrop of outlandish nature. Her works are usually large-scale and printed on paper, leather, plastic. In 2006, this contemporary Japanese artist participated in Art on the Underground in London. She created 17 successive arches for the platform - the magical landscape gradually turned from day to night, from urban to rural. This miracle blossomed at the Gloucester Road tube station.

Chiharu Shima and Infinite Threads

Another artist, Chiharu Shiota, is working on large-scale visual installations for specific landmarks. She was born in Osaka, but now lives in Germany - in Berlin. Central themes her work is oblivion and memory, dreams and reality, past and present, and also a confrontation of anxiety. Chiharu Shiota's most famous works are the impenetrable webs of black thread that envelop many everyday and personal items such as old chairs, a wedding dress, a burnt piano. In the summer of 2014, Shiota connected more than 300 shoes and boots donated to her with threads of red yarn and hung them on hooks. Chiharu's first exhibition in the German capital was held during the Berlin Art Week in 2016 and caused a sensation.

Hey Arakawa: everywhere, not anywhere

Ei Arakawa is inspired by states of change, periods of instability, elements of risk, and his installations often symbolize the themes of friendship and teamwork. The credo of the contemporary Japanese artist is defined by the performative indefinite "everywhere but nowhere". His creations pop up in unexpected places. In 2013, Arakawa's work was exhibited at the Venice Biennale and in the exhibition of Japanese contemporary art at the Mori Art Museum (Tokyo). The Hawaiian Presence installation (2014) was a collaboration with New York-based artist Carissa Rodriguez and featured in the Whitney Biennale. Also in 2014, Arakawa and his brother Tomu, performing as a duet called the United Brothers, offered visitors to Frieze London their "work" "The This Soup Taste Ambivalent" with "radioactive" Fukushima daikon roots.

Koki Tanaka: Relationship and Repetition

In 2015, Koki Tanaka was named Artist of the Year. Tanaka explores the shared experience of creativity and imagination, encourages exchange between project participants, and advocates for new rules for collaboration. His installation in the Japanese pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale consisted of videos of objects turning the space into a platform for art exchange. Koki Tanaka's installations (not to be confused with his full namesake actor) illustrate the relationship between objects and actions, such as the video recording of simple gestures performed with ordinary objects (knife slicing vegetables, beer being poured into a glass, opening an umbrella). Nothing significant happens, but obsessive repetition and attention to the smallest details make the viewer appreciate the mundane.

Mariko Mori and streamlined shapes

Another contemporary Japanese artist, Mariko Mori, "conjures" multimedia objects, combining videos, photos, objects. She has a minimalist futuristic vision and sleek, surreal forms. A recurring theme in Mori's work is the juxtaposition of Western legend with Western culture. In 2010, Mariko founded the Fau Foundation, an educational cultural non-profit organization, for which she produced a series of her art installations in honor of the six inhabited continents. Most recently, the Foundation's permanent installation, The Ring: One with Nature, was hoisted over a picturesque waterfall in Resende near Rio de Janeiro.

Ryoji Ikeda: Sound and Video Synthesis

Ryoji Ikeda is a new media artist and composer whose work is mainly related to sound in different "raw" states, from sinusoidal sounds to noises using frequencies at the edge of human hearing. His breathtaking installations include computer-generated sounds that are visually transformed into video projections or digital templates. Ikeda's audiovisual art objects use scale, light, shadow, volume, electronic sounds and rhythm. The artist's famous test object consists of five projectors that illuminate an area 28 meters long and 8 meters wide. The unit converts data (text, sounds, photos and movies) into a barcode and binary patterns of zeros and ones.

Tatsuo Miyajima and LED counters

Contemporary Japanese sculptor and installation artist Tatsuo Miyajima uses in his art electrical circuits, video, computers and other gadgets. The main concepts of Miyajima are inspired by humanistic ideas and Buddhist teachings. The LED counters in his setup flash continuously in a repetition of 1 to 9, symbolizing the journey from life to death, but avoiding the finality that is represented by 0 (zero never appears in Tatsuo's work). The ubiquitous numbers in grids, towers, and diagrams express Miyajima's interest in the ideas of continuity, eternity, connection, and the flow of time and space. Not so long ago, Miyajima's Arrow of Time object was shown at the inaugural exhibition "Incomplete Thoughts Visible in New York".

Nara Yoshimoto and the Evil Children

Nara Yoshimoto creates paintings, sculptures and drawings of children and dogs, subjects that reflect the childish sense of boredom and frustration and the fierce independence that comes naturally to toddlers. The aesthetic of Yoshimoto's work is reminiscent of traditional book illustrations, a mixture of restless tension and the artist's love of punk rock. In 2011, the Asian Society Museum in New York hosted Yoshitomo's first solo exhibition entitled "Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody's Fool", covering the 20-year career of a contemporary Japanese artist. The exhibits were closely connected with world youth subcultures, their alienation and protest.

Yayoi Kusama and the space that grows with outlandish forms

Striking creative biography Yayoi Kusama lasts for seven decades. During this time, an amazing Japanese woman managed to study the fields of painting, graphics, collage, sculpture, cinema, engraving, environmental art, installation, as well as literature, fashion and clothing design. Kusama developed a highly distinctive style of dot art that has become her trademark. The illusory visions presented in the works of the 88-year-old Kusama - when the world seems to be covered with proliferating outlandish forms - are the result of hallucinations that she has experienced since childhood. Rooms with colorful dots and "endless" mirrors reflecting their accumulations are recognizable, they cannot be confused with anything else.

The Japanese discovered the beauty hidden in things in the 9th-12th centuries, in the Heian era (794-1185) and even designated it with the special concept of “mono no aware” (物の哀れ (もののあわれ)), which means “sad charm of things. “The charm of things” is one of the earliest definitions of beauty in Japanese literature, it is associated with the Shinto belief that every thing has its own deity - kami - and its own unique charm. Avare is the inner essence of things, that which causes delight, excitement.

- Washi (wasi) or wagami (wagami).
Manual paper making. Medieval Japanese valued washi not only for its practical qualities, but also for its beauty. She was famous for her subtlety, almost transparency, which, however, did not deprive her of strength. Washi is made from the bark of the kozo (mulberry) tree and some other trees.
Washi paper has been preserved for centuries, evidence of this is the albums and volumes of ancient Japanese calligraphy, paintings, screens, engravings that have come down through the centuries to the present day.
Vasya's paper is fibrous, if you look through a microscope, you will see cracks through which air and sunlight penetrate. This quality is used in the manufacture of screens and traditional Japanese lanterns.
Washi souvenirs are very popular among Europeans. Many small and useful items are made from this paper: wallets, envelopes, fans. They are quite durable yet lightweight.

- Gohei.
Mascot from paper strips. Gohei - a ritual staff of a Shinto priest, to which paper zigzag strips are attached. The same strips of paper are hung at the entrance to a Shinto shrine. The role of paper in Shinto has traditionally been very great, and paper products have always been given esoteric meaning. And the belief that every thing, every phenomenon, even words, contain a kami - a deity - explains the appearance of this kind applied arts like gohei. Shintoism is somewhat similar to our paganism. For Shintoists, the kami is especially willing to take up residence in anything that is out of the ordinary. For example, on paper. And even more so in a gohei twisted into an intricate zigzag, which hangs today in front of the entrance to Shinto shrines and indicates the presence of a deity in the temple. There are 20 ways to fold the gohei, and those that are especially unusually folded attract the kami. Gohei is predominantly white in color, but gold, silver, and many other shades are also found. Since the 9th century, there has been a custom in Japan to strengthen the gohei on the belts of sumo wrestlers before the start of the fight.

- Anesama.
This is the manufacture of paper dolls. In the 19th century, samurai wives made paper dolls that children played with, dressing them in different clothes. In times when there were no toys, anesama was the only interlocutor for children, "performing" the role of mother, elder sister, child and friend.
The doll is folded from Japanese washi paper, the hair is made from crinkled paper, dyed with ink and covered with glue, which gives it a sheen. A distinctive feature is a nice little nose on an elongated face. Today, this simple toy, requiring nothing but skillful hands, traditional in form, continues to be made in the same way as before.

- Origami.
The ancient art of paper folding (折り紙, lit.: "folded paper"). The art of origami has its roots in Ancient China where paper was invented. Initially, origami was used in religious ceremonies. For a long time this kind of art was available only to representatives of the upper classes, where a sign of good taste was the possession of paper folding techniques. Only after the Second World War, origami went beyond the East and came to America and Europe, where it immediately found its fans. Classic origami is folded from a square sheet of paper.
There is a certain set of conventional symbols necessary to sketch the folding scheme of even the most complex product. Most of the conventional signs were put into practice in the middle of the 20th century by the famous Japanese master Akira Yoshizawa.
Classical origami prescribes the use of one square evenly colored sheet of paper without glue and scissors. Contemporary art forms sometimes deviate from this canon.

- Kirigami.
Kirigami is the art of cutting various shapes from a sheet of paper folded several times with the help of scissors. A type of origami that allows the use of scissors and paper cutting in the process of making the model. This is the main difference between kirigami and other paper folding techniques, which is emphasized in the name: 切る (kiru) - cut, 紙 (gami) - paper. We all loved to cut snowflakes in childhood - a variant of kirigami, you can cut not only snowflakes, but also various figures, flowers, garlands and other cute paper things using this technique. These products can be used as stencils for prints, album decorations, postcards, photo frames, fashion design, interior design and other various decorations.

- Ikebana.
Ikebana, (jap 生け花 or いけばな) translated from Japanese language- ike” - life, “bana” - flowers, or “flowers that live”. The Japanese art of flower arranging is one of the most beautiful traditions of the Japanese people. When compiling ikebana, along with flowers, cut branches, leaves and shoots are used. The fundamental principle is exquisite simplicity, to achieve which they try to emphasize natural beauty plants. Ikebana is the creation of a new natural form, in which the beauty of a flower and the beauty of the soul of the master creating the composition are harmoniously combined.
Today in Japan there are 4 major schools of ikebana: Ikenobo (Ikenobo), Koryu (Koryu), Ohara (Ohara), Sogetsu (Sogetsu). In addition to them, there are about a thousand different directions and trends that adhere to one of these schools.

- Oribana.
In the middle of the 17th century, two schools of ohara (the main form of ikebana - oribana) and koryu (the main form - sek) departed from ikenobo. By the way, the ohara school still studies only oribanu. As the Japanese say, it is very important that origami does not turn into origami. Gomi means trash in Japanese. After all, as it happens, you folded a piece of paper, and then what to do with it? Oribana offers a lot of ideas for bouquets for decorating the interior. ORIBANA = ORIGAMI + IKEBANA

- Mistake.
A type of fine art born of floristry. Floristry appeared in our country eight years ago, although it has existed in Japan for more than six hundred years. Sometime in the Middle Ages, samurai comprehended the way of a warrior. And oshibana was part of that path, just like writing hieroglyphs and wielding a sword. The meaning of the mistake was that in the state of total presence in the moment (satori), the master created a picture of dried flowers (pressed flowers). Then this picture could serve as a key, a guide for those who were ready to enter silence and experience that same satori.
The essence of the art of "oshibana" is that, by collecting and drying flowers, herbs, leaves, bark under pressure and sticking them on the base, the author creates with the help of plants a truly work of "painting". In other words, wrong is painting with plants.
The artistic creativity of florists is based on the preservation of the form, color and texture of dried plant material. The Japanese have developed a technique for protecting "oshibana" paintings from fading and darkening. Its essence is that air is pumped out between the glass and the picture and a vacuum is created that prevents the plants from spoiling.
It attracts not only the unconventionality of this art, but also the opportunity to show imagination, taste, knowledge of the properties of plants. Florists create ornaments, landscapes, still lifes, portraits and story paintings.

- Bonsai.
Bonsai, as a phenomenon, appeared more than a thousand years ago in China, but this culture reached its peak of development only in Japan. (bonsai - Japanese 盆栽 lit. "plant in a pot") - the art of growing exact copy real tree in miniature. These plants were grown by Buddhist monks several centuries before our era and subsequently became one of the activities of the local nobility.
Bonsai adorned Japanese homes and gardens. In the Tokugawa era, park design received a new impetus: the cultivation of azaleas and maples became a pastime for the wealthy. Dwarf crop production (hachi-no-ki - "tree in a pot") also developed, but the bonsai of that time were very large.
Now ordinary trees are used for bonsai, they become small due to constant pruning and various other methods. At the same time, the ratio of the sizes of the root system, limited by the volume of the bowl, and the ground part of the bonsai corresponds to the proportions of an adult tree in nature.

- Mizuhiki.
Macrame analogue. This is an ancient Japanese applied art of tying various knots from special cords and creating patterns from them. Such works of art had an extremely wide scope - from gift cards and letters to hairstyles and handbags. Currently, mizuhiki is extremely widely used in the gift industry - for every event in life, a gift is supposed to be wrapped and tied in a very specific way. There are extremely many knots and compositions in the art of mizuhiki, and not every Japanese knows them all by heart. Of course, there are the most common and simple knots that are used most often: for congratulations on the birth of a child, for a wedding or commemoration, a birthday or university admission.

- Kumihimo.
Kumihimo is a Japanese braided cord. When weaving threads, ribbons and laces are obtained. These laces are woven on special machines - Marudai and Takadai. The Marudai machine is used for weaving round laces, and Takadai for flat ones. Kumihimo in Japanese means "weaving ropes" (kumi - weaving, folding together, himo - rope, lace). Despite the fact that historians stubbornly insist that similar weaving can be found among the Scandinavians and the inhabitants of the Andes, the Japanese art of kumihimo is indeed one of the most ancient types of weaving. The first mention of it dates back to 550, when Buddhism spread throughout Japan and special ceremonies required special decorations. Later, kumihimo laces began to be used as a fixer for the obi belt on a women's kimono, as ropes for "packing" the entire samurai arsenal of weapons (samurai used kumihimo for decorative and functional purposes to tie their armor and horse armor) and also for tying heavy objects.
A variety of patterns of modern kumihimo are woven very easily on homemade cardboard looms.

- Komono.
What remains of a kimono after it has served its time? Do you think it's being thrown away? Nothing like this! The Japanese will never do that. Kimonos are expensive. It's unthinkable and impossible to just throw it away like that... Along with other types of kimono recycling, craftswomen made small souvenirs from small shreds. These are small toys for children, dolls, brooches, garlands, women's jewelry and other products, the old kimono is used in the manufacture of small cute things, which are collectively called "komono". Little things that will live own life, continuing the path of the kimono. This is what the word "komono" means.

- Kanzashi.
The art of decorating hair clips (most often decorated with flowers (butterflies, etc.) made of fabric (mainly silk). Japanese kanzashi (kanzashi) is a long hairpin for a traditional Japanese female hairstyle. They were made of wood, lacquer, silver, tortoiseshell used in traditional Chinese and Japanese hairstyles.About 400 years ago, in Japan, the style of women's hairstyles changed: women stopped combing their hair in the traditional form - taregami (long straight hair) and began to style it in intricate and bizarre forms - nihongami. used various items - hairpins, sticks, combs.It was then that even a simple kushi comb-comb turns into an elegant accessory of extraordinary beauty, which becomes a real work of art.Japanese women's traditional costume did not allow wrist jewelry and necklaces, so hairstyles were main beauty and a field for self-expression - as well as demonstrating the taste and thickness of the owner's wallet. On the engravings you can see - if you look closely - how Japanese women easily hung up to twenty expensive kanzashi in their hairstyles.
There is now a resurgence in the tradition of using kanzashi among young Japanese women who wish to add sophistication and elegance to their hairstyles, modern barrettes can be adorned with just one or two dainty handmade flowers.

- Kinusaiga.
An amazing type of needlework from Japan. Kinusaiga (絹彩画) is a cross between batik and patchwork. The main idea is that new paintings are pieced together from old silk kimonos - true works of art.
First, the artist makes a sketch on paper. Then this drawing is transferred to a wooden board. The contour of the pattern is cut through with grooves, or grooves, and then small shreds, matching in color and tone, are cut from the old silk kimono, and the edges of these shreds fill the grooves. When you look at such a picture, you get the feeling that you are looking at a photograph, or even just watching the landscape outside the window, they are so realistic.

- Temari.
These are traditional Japanese geometric embroidered balls made with simple stitches that were once a children's toy and have now become an art form with many fans not only in Japan but throughout the world. It is believed that a long time ago these products were made by samurai wives for entertainment. At the very beginning, they were really used as a ball for a ball game, but gradually they began to acquire artistic elements, later turning into decorative ornaments. The delicate beauty of these balls is known throughout Japan. And today, colorful, carefully crafted products are one of the types of folk crafts in Japan.

- Yubinuki.
Japanese thimbles, when hand sewing or embroidering, they are put on the middle phalanx of the middle finger of the working hand, with the help of the fingertips the needle is given the desired direction, and the needle is pushed through the ring on the middle finger in work. Initially, Japanese yubinuki thimbles were made quite simply - a strip of dense fabric or leather about 1 cm wide in several layers was tightly wrapped around the finger and fastened together with a few simple decorative stitches. Since the yubinuks were necessary subject in every house, they began to be decorated with geometric embroidery with silk threads. From the interlacing of stitches, colorful and complex patterns were created. Yubinuki from a simple household item has also turned into an object for "admiring", decoration of everyday life.
Yubinuki are still used in sewing and embroidery, but they can also be found simply worn on the hands on any finger, like decorative rings. Yubinuki-style embroidery is used to decorate various objects in the form of a ring - napkin rings, bracelets, temari stands, decorated with yubinuki embroidery, and there are also embroidered needle beds in the same style. Yubinuki patterns can be a great inspiration for temari obi embroidery.

- Suibokuga or sumie.
Japanese ink painting. This Chinese style of painting was adopted by Japanese artists in the 14th century, and by the end of the 15th century. became the mainstream of painting in Japan. Suibokuga is monochrome. It is characterized by the use of black ink (sumi), a solid form charcoal or made from the soot of Chinese ink, which is ground in an ink pot, diluted with water, and applied with a brush to paper or silk. Monochrome offers the master an endless choice of tonal options, which the Chinese long ago recognized as the “colors” of ink. Suibokuga sometimes allows the use of real colors, but limits it to thin, transparent strokes that always remain subordinate to the ink line. Ink painting shares with the art of calligraphy such essential characteristics as tightly controlled expression and technical mastery of form. The quality of ink painting comes down, as in calligraphy, to the integrity and resistance to tearing of the line drawn in ink, which, as it were, holds the work of art on itself, just as bones hold tissues on themselves.

- Etegami.
Drawn postcards (e - picture, tagged - letter). Do-it-yourself postcard making is generally a very popular activity in Japan, and before the holiday its popularity increases even more. The Japanese love to send postcards to their friends, and they love to receive them too. This is a type of quick letter on special blanks, it can be sent by mail without an envelope. There are no special rules or techniques in etegami, anyone can do it without special training. Etagami helps to accurately express the mood, impressions, this is a handmade postcard consisting of a picture and a short letter, conveying the emotions of the sender, such as warmth, passion, care, love, etc. They send these postcards for the holidays and just like that, depicting the seasons, activities, vegetables and fruits, people and animals. The simpler this picture is drawn, the more interesting it looks.

- Furoshiki.
Japanese wrapping technique or the art of cloth folding. Furoshiki entered the life of the Japanese for a long time. Ancient scrolls from the Kamakura-Muromachi period (1185 - 1573) have been preserved with images of women carrying bundles of clothes wrapped in cloth on their heads. This interesting technique originated as early as 710 - 794 AD in Japan. The word "furoshiki" literally translates to "bath rug" and is a square piece of cloth that was used to wrap and carry objects of all shapes and sizes.
In the old days, it was customary to walk in Japanese baths (furo) in light cotton kimonos, which visitors brought with them from home. The bather also brought a special rug (shiki) on which he stood while undressing. Having changed into a "bathing" kimono, the visitor wrapped his clothes in a rug, and after the bath wrapped a wet kimono in a rug to bring it home. Thus, the bath mat has become a multifunctional bag.
Furoshiki is very easy to use: the fabric takes the shape of the object that you wrap, and the handles make it easy to carry the load. In addition, a gift wrapped not in hard paper, but in a soft, multi-layered fabric, acquires a special expressiveness. There are many schemes for folding furoshiki for any occasion, everyday or festive.

- Amigurumi.
The Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and humanoid creatures. Amigurumi (編み包み, lit.: “knitted-wrapped”) are most often cute animals (such as bears, bunnies, cats, dogs, etc.), little men, but they can also be inanimate objects endowed with human properties. For example, cupcakes, hats, handbags and others. Amigurumi is knitted or knitted or crocheted. IN Lately Crochet amigurumi have become more popular and more common.
knitted from yarn in a simple knitting method - in a spiral and, unlike the European knitting method, the circles are usually not connected. They are also crocheted on a smaller size relative to the yarn thickness to create a very dense fabric without any gaps for stuffing to come out. Amigurumi are often made from parts and then put together, with the exception of some amigurumi, which do not have limbs, but only have a head and torso, which are one whole. The limbs are sometimes filled with plastic pieces to give them live weight, while the rest of the body is filled with fiberfill.
The spread of amigurumi aesthetics is facilitated by their cuteness (“kawaii”).

Today's world is often blamed for spiritual crisis, in the destruction of ties with traditions, in globalization, inevitably absorbing national foundations. Everything is personalized and depersonalized at the same time. If the so-called classical art we could divide into national schools and imagine that there italian art what is German art and what is French; then can we divide contemporary art into the same “schools”?

In answer to this question, I would like to present Japanese contemporary art to your attention. At a conference at the Mori Art Museum on the topic of internationalism in contemporary art last year, University of Tokyo professor Michio Hayashi suggested that the popular perception of “Japaneseness” in the West was cemented in the 1980s by the trinity of “kitsch,” “naturalness,” and “technological sophistication.” Today, the popular, and especially the commercially popular contemporary art of Japan can still be placed in this triangle. For the Western viewer, it remains mysterious and original due to the specific features inherent only in the art of the Land of the Rising Sun. In August, West and East met at three art venues at once: until August 8, the exhibition “Duality of Existence – Post-Fukushima” was held in Manhattan (515 W 26th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan), the exposition “teamLab: Ultra Subjective Space” lasted until 15 August is practically nearby (508-510 W 25th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan); and the “Arhat Cycle” by Takashi Murakami at the Palazzo Reale, in Milan, still continues to conquer and amaze visitors.

All artworks shown were created after March 11, 2011, when the tsunami hit Japan. The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant rallied the nation, made it necessary to reconsider priorities and values, and turn again to long-forgotten traditions. Art could not stand aside and presented to the world new type an artist focused on the needs of the modern viewer, and at the same time honoring the historical foundations and values.

Takashi Murakami - commercial successful artist, who popularized techno kitsch and created a new visual language superflat, based on the traditions of Japanese nihonga painting and the specifics of anime and manga. The ideology of his replicated sculptures and outrageous installations was to demonstrate the change in Japan after the war, when consumerism became prevalent. But March 11, 2011 divided the life of Japan into "before" and "after", like two terrible days in August 1945, when nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After that strong earthquake, which led to terrible consequences, Murakami embarked on the path of rethinking Buddhism and Japanese aesthetics, took a step towards returning to the origins and spirituality. The first work that initiated the Arhats cycle is 500 Arhats, shown at Takashi Murakami's solo exhibition in Doha, Qatar, in 2012. The return to Buddhist themes is explained by the author as an attempt to realize that in this world there are not only us, that there are forces that are independent of us, and that we must improve every time in order to stop being dependent on own desires and affects. A dense wall of arhats, as if protecting the audience from the raging elements throughout the entire 100 meters of the canvas, instilled peace and tranquility in the soul of everyone. But Murakami did not limit himself to just one work and continued the cycle of paintings, supplementing and expanding the narrative, as if using a manga technique and telling a story in visual design. The second part of the cycle was presented in the gallery Blum & Poe ( Los Angeles) in 2013. Today, in Milan, the arhats are traveling the world for the third time, spreading the idea of ​​a return to spirituality and renunciation of passions. Despite the instructiveness and depth of meaning, the paintings are easily perceived because of the bold and bright color decision, the very artistic language. Manga elements brought to them that necessary share of popularization so that the broadcast ideas of Buddhism were easily read and accepted even by the uninitiated public.

The next representative of modern Japanese painting can be called Kazuki Umezawa, a student of Murakami, which brings us back to the question of school and continuity. He creates digital renderings of anime characters by drawing them on top of stickers to create extra depth and visual chaos. From random and scattered images all over the Internet, he constructs collages, breaks backgrounds, creating mandalas that reflect the structure and content of the imagination of otaku (anime and manga fans). The appeal to the Buddhist symbol enhances the semantic value of the young artist's works, connecting, on the one hand, the sacred and the established in culture, on the other hand, modern issues, but again with the inclusion of a specific Japanese phenomenon - anime.

Takashi Murakami and Kazuki Umezawa skillfully balance between relevance and tradition, kitsch and style.

Surprisingly, after the earthquake on March 11, 2011 in Japan, a 16-year-old boy who was trapped under the rubble of his house for nine days and was rescued, when asked by a journalist about his future dreams, answered: “I want to become an artist.”

Tadasu Takamine. "God Save America", 2002. Video (8 min. 18 sec.)

Double Perspective: Japanese Contemporary Art
Curators Elena Yaichnikova and Kenjiro Hosaka

Part one: "Reality/Ordinary World". Moscow Museum of Modern Art, mountains. Moscow, Ermolaevsky lane, 17
Part two: "Imaginary World/Fantasy". Moscow Museum of Modern Art, mountains. Moscow, Gogolevsky Boulevard, 10

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art, together with the Japan Foundation, presents the exhibition "Double Perspective: Japanese Contemporary Art", designed to acquaint the general public with contemporary Japanese artists.
Double perspective is two curators from different countries, two sites of the museum and a two-part structure of the project. Curated by Elena Yaichnikova and Kenjiro Hosaka, the exhibition brings together the works of more than 30 artists of various styles who have worked from the 1970s to the present. The project consists of two parts - "The Real World / Everyday Life" and "Imaginary World / Fantasies" - which are located on the museum grounds at 17 Ermolaevsky Lane and 10 Gogolevsky Boulevard.

Part One: "Reality/Ordinary World"

The first part of the exhibition "The Real World/Everyday Life" presents the view of Japanese artists on the world around us through an appeal to the world history of the 20th century (Yasumasa Morimura, Yoshinori Niwa and Yuken Teruya), reflections on the device modern society(Dumb Type and Tadasu Takamine), interaction with the urban space (contact Gonzo and ChimPom) and the search for poetry in everyday life (Shimabuku, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Kohei Kobayashi and Tetsuya Umeda). Yasumasa Morimura in the series of video works "Requiem" reincarnates in various historical characters: Chaplin, writer Yukio Mishima and even Lenin - and recreates episodes from their lives. Another project participant, Tetsuya Umeda, creates installations from improvised means, ordinary things - thus, the most banal everyday life becomes art. The exhibition will feature works by Yoko Ono - the famous "Cut Piece" in the version of 1965 and 2003 and the sound installation "Cough Piece" (1961). The exhibition will present the works of Kishio Suga, one of the central representatives of the Mono-Ha movement (Mono-Ha, translated as "School of things"), which offered a Japanese alternative to Western modernism. The photo section will present the work of Toshio Shibata, Takashi Homma and Lieko Shiga.

Yayoi Kusama. "I'm here but nowhere", 2000. Mixed media. Installation at the Maison de la culture du Japon, Paris.
Author's collection

The works that make up the second part of the project will present the public with a free, imaginary world in which there are everything that we are not able to see in real life, everything that is beyond its borders. The works of the artists of this part of the exhibition refer to Japanese pop culture, the world of fantasy, naivety, myths and reflections on the cosmogonic structure of the world. Each participant of the exhibition puts his own meaning into the concept of "imagination". So the artist Tadanori Yokoo, in his relationship with the imaginary world, does main theme of his works disappearance, or rather "self-disappearance". A similar motif can be traced in the work of Yayoi Kusama: by projecting her fantasies into reality, she creates a world full of bizarre patterns. The giant sculpture "Child of the Sun" (2011) by Kenji Yanobe was created at a terrible time when there was an explosion at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. His monumental object becomes a point of intersection of imaginations. The artist understands that the experience experienced on the border of the real will become an impetus for the creation of a new world. The Imaginary World/Fantasy part also features works by Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami, Makoto Aida, Hiraki Sawa and many more.
Some of the works were created specifically for the exhibition. The artist Yoshinori Niva came to Moscow for his project “Vladimir Lenin is wanted in Moscow apartments” (2012) in order to find artifacts related to the personality of the revolutionary in the apartments of Muscovites. His work is a video documentation of his searches and travels around Moscow. Artist Tetsuya Umeda, whose work will be presented simultaneously at two venues, will come to Moscow to realize his installations on site.
These two, at first glance, incomparable parts of the exhibition are designed to show the two poles of Japanese art, which in reality turn out to be inseparable from each other.
Within the framework of the exhibition, it is also planned to hold open master classes and creative meetings with project participants. There will be lectures by Japanese curator Kenjiro Hosaka and artist Kenji Yanobe. For Russia, this exhibition for the first time presents contemporary Japanese art on such a scale.

Yoshitomo Nara. "Candy-blue night", 2001. 1166.5 x 100 cm. Acrylic on canvas
Photo: Yoshitaka Uchida

Kisio Suga "Space of Separation", 1975. Branches and concrete blocks. 184 x 240 x 460 cm
Photo: Yoshitaka Uchida

Kenji Yanobe. "Child of the Sun", 2011. Fiberglass, steel, neon, etc. 620 x 444 x 263 cm. Installation in the memorial park Ezpo"70
Photo: Thomas Swab