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Superflat Art

One of the many great panels at Anime Central this year was called “Superflat Artists“. As a big fan of Japanese pop art (especially superflat), I was pretty excited to check this one out.

So what is superflat art? Here’s a great summary:

“Superflat is a postmodern art movement, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime. In a response to the homogenization of Japanese media and art, “Superflat” attempts to critique the vacuity of post-war Japanese culture, including criticisms of the otaku lifestyle, consumerism, and related issues.”

Most superflat artists use a combination of their fine art skills and that in the commercial world. Their design elements can be seen in numerous consumer products such as handbags, dresses, ashtrays and toys. But at the same time, their work is shown in prestigious galleries all over the world. I think it’s the balance between art and commercialism that makes it so interesting to anime fans and fine art lovers.

Two leaders of the superflat art movement are Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami.

Yoshitomo Nara

Nara is typically considered a superflat artist whose style is often referred to as ‘cutism’. Nara’s work is typically childlike but scary. Many of his paintings feature “a lone, bitter child who is isolated on the canvas”. His work is also known for featuring dogs. His work can be found everywhere in Japan; from galleries to ashtrays! View more of Yoshitomo Nara’s art.

Takashi Murakami

Murakami is considered ‘the man’ when it comes to superflat. His work has been displayed in many galleries throughout Japan and the world! Murakami is actually a big fan of anime and manga, even though his work often makes fun of anime stereotypes, LOL. There’s a great lecture I found online that nicely sums up Mr. Murakami’s contribution to superflat. An excerpt:

Murakami himself belongs to the first otaku generation, which consists of those who are born around 1960 (Murakami was born in 1962), and he admits publicly that his superflat style was established based on both Japanese premodern art tradition and postmodern otaku products. Murakami’s superflat conceptuality highlights an artistic quality of the otaku sensibilities. Nevertheless, the actual relationship between superflat and otaku is more complicated than an influence. To understand its entanglement, we should note the fact that otaku culture and its products have generally suffered an unjustified disregard by many intellectuals and critics these 10-15 years in Japan, while they are very often argued as a kind of sociological phenomena. Murakami’s project is now changing this situation but sometimes he still faces misunderstanding. We can point out three causes in this neglect of the otaku culture. I think the understanding of those factors is essential to understand the cultural position of the superflat and the structure of Japanese postmodernity.

View more of Takashi Murakami’s art

There are a variety of other, well-established superflat artists. Here are a few:

Izumi Kato

Deals with topics such as the aging Japanese population. View more of Izumi Kato’s art.

Hideaki Kawashima

Floating heads with large blue eyes dominate Kawashima’s work. The characters are often asexual. View more of Hideaki Kawashima’s art.

Kenji Yanobe

Yanobe tackles subjects like the dualism of atomic power - like how it can provide power, but it can also be used as a weapon. View more of Kenji Yanobe’s art.

Chiho Aoshima

Aoshima’s work is simply amazing. Larger-than-life creatures dominate the canvas - you have to see it to believe it! Check out Chiho Aoshima’s art here and the Tokyo Girls Bravo Show!

If you enjoy their work, you might want to check out these superflat artists too:

• Noboru Tsubaki’s art
• Aya Takano’s art also view more art
• Seth Fisher’s Marvel Comics ’superflat’ style art

Oh, and another site you should check out is Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.. This is the company founded by Takashi Murakami - I think you’ll like it!