Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [33]
Today’s emerging artists and the movements they have generated have no such ambivalence. Gone is the anxiety about coopting, or being coopted by, Western philosophies and aesthetics; in its place is the insouciant celebration of the smooth, cool surface of the future articulated by fantastic colours and shapes. This exuberant, devil-may-care aesthetic is most notably represented by Takashi Murakami, whose work derives much of its energy from otaku, the geek culture that worships characters that figure prominently in manga, Japan’s ubiquitous comic books (see the boxed text). Murakami’s spirited, prankish images and installations have become emblematic of the Japanese aesthetic known as poku (a concept that combines pop art with an otaku sensibility), and his Super Flat Manifesto, which declares that ‘the world of the future might be like Japan is today – super flat’, can be seen as a primer for contemporary Japanese pop aesthetics.
Beyond the pop scene, artists continue to create works whose textures and topics relay a world that is broader than the frames of a comic book. Three notable artists to look for are Yoshie Sakai, whose ethereal oil paintings, replete with pastel skies and deep waters, leave the viewer unsure whether they are floating or sinking; Noriko Ambe, whose sculptural works with paper can resemble sand dunes shifting in the Sahara, or your high-school biology textbook; and the indomitable Hisashi Tenmyouya, whose work chronicles the themes of contemporary Japanese life, echoing the flat surfaces and deep impressions of wood-block prints while singing a song of the street.
Traditional Visual Art
PAINTING
From 794 to 1600, Japanese painting borrowed from Chinese and Western techniques and media, ultimately transforming them into its own aesthetic ends. By the beginning of the Edo period (1600–1868), which was marked by the enthusiastic patronage of a wide range of painting styles, Japanese art had come completely into its own. The Kanō school, initiated more than a century before the beginning of the Edo era, continued to be in demand for its depiction of subjects connected with Confucianism, mythical Chinese creatures or scenes from nature. The Tosa school, which followed the yamato-e style of painting (often used on scrolls during the Heian period, 794–1185), was also kept busy with commissions from the nobility, who were eager to see scenes re-created from classics of Japanese literature.
The Rimpa school (from 1600) not only absorbed the styles of painting that had preceded it, but progressed beyond well-worn conventions to produce a strikingly decorative and delicately shaded form of painting. The works of art produced by a trio of outstanding artists from this school – Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Hon’ami Kōetsu and Ogata Kōrin – rank among the finest of this period.
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The screen paintings of Hasegawa Tohaku, painted almost 400 years ago, are said to be the first examples of impressionist art.
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CALLIGRAPHY
Shodō (the way of writing) is one of Japan’s most valued arts, cultivated by nobles, priests and samurai alike, and still studied by Japanese school-children today as shūji. Like the characters of the Japanese language, the art of shodō was imported from China. In the Heian period, a fluid, cursive, distinctly Japanese style of shodō evolved that was called wayō, though the Chinese style remained popular in Japan among Zen priests and the literati for some time.
In both Chinese and Japanese shodō there are three important types. Most common is kaisho, or block-style script. Due to its clarity, this style is favoured in the media and in applications where readability is key. Gyōsho, or running hand, is semicursive, and often used in informal correspondence. Sōsho, or grass hand, is a truly cursive style. Sōsho abbreviates and links the characters together to create a flowing, graceful