| 4. Contemporary Arts |
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The defining characteristic of Japan's
modern and contemporary arts is the mixture and conflict of
Western and the Japanese tradition, resulting in a state of
contradiction. Contemporary arts here refer to the postwar period.
From 1950, Japan's original arts movement started to
receive recognition from overseas. Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai ("Gutai"),
Jiro Yoshihara formed an avant-garde art group was with Shozo
Shimamoto, Akira Kanayama, Kazuo Shiraga, Atsuko Tanaka, Sadamasa
Motonaga, and Saburo Murakami as members. Ushio Shinohara, Fujio
Miki, and Genpei Akasegawa initiated the Antiarts and Neodada
movements of the late 1950s to early 1960s. Natsuyuki Nakanishi
and Tetsumi Kudo also took part in the art trend that held an
original concept different from that of the art of the West.
From the late 1960s, artists such as Woo Fan Lee, Kishio Suga,
Susumu Koshimizu, Katsuro Yoshida and Koji Enokura formed the
art movement Monoha (Mono school), creating an installation
of materials such as soil, rocks and water preserving the natural
condition. Artists active in the 1970s include Kosai Hori, Nobuo
Yamanaka, and Isao Nakamura. Shigeo Toya, Toshikatsu Endo, Tadashi
Kawamata are classified as Post-Monoha. Monoha and Post-Monoha
were introduced as minimalist movements; however, they are original
art movements of Japan's post-war period.
Environmental Art
Environmental Art started itself after World War II when Isamu
Noguchi designed the Heiwa Ohashi in Hiroshima and Taro Okamoto
designed the wall decoration of the Tokyo Metropolitan City
Hall Building (former Marunouchi City Hall Building). Isamu
Noguchi was an American contemporary sculptor, having a Japanese
father and an American mother, well known for his public sculpture,
landscape design and stage design. Taro Okamoto, an artist,
essayist and sculptor, was also one of the leaders in the Japanese
avant-garde art movement during the postwar period known for
his unique art works.
In the 1990s, public art such as "Faret Tachikawa"
became acknowledged when 109 works of art were put up throughout
the city of Tachikawa. The concept of environmental art could
be perceived as being included in the category of the artwork
of Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai when viewing action as a part of art.
Artwork with the characteristics of a subculture created
by a generation of artists brought up in a high-consumption
and information-oriented society has become prominent in recent
years. Takashi Murakami, known for his expression method "Super
Flat," integrates animation and comics with the anti-realistic
and formative style of modern Japanese paintings and sculptures.
Another artist is Yoshitomo Nara, known for the paintings of
children and animals with cute appearances but piercing eyes,
expressing the innocent but lonely and sometimes diabolical
aspects of the subject.
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