By Jennifer Knapp
Contemporary art is known to push boundaries. It strives to break into new means of expression and touch the viewer's sensibilities. All three artists now being exhibited at the 4-F Gallery are masters at leaving strong, lasting impressions on the viewer, through unsettling, aggravating, or just flat out confusing images inviting the viewer to see their world in an entirely new way. Makoto Aida, Erika Yoshino, and Yasumasa Yonehara show that art can be bold and disturbing, yet also nonchalant.
The first painting in the Nonchalant exhibit comes into view before one even walks through the door. It is a massive piece of work that takes up almost the entire wall. The painting shows a green, cartoon-like character with a wooly triangular head, graphically defecating into a squat toilet. As the viewer finally tears his focus away from the detailed brown trail that disappears into the ground, the next thing he or she notices are the words that float outside a dialogue bubble which read, “I'm not thinking.” The next piece was a collage rivaling the size of the first piece. The various black and white photographs had no pattern or relationship in theme or location. Some pictures were of children at a festival. One was of a young woman walking down the street giving the photographer a dirty look for taking her picture. One was of a middle-aged woman sitting on the ground with her legs in an awkward position, while going through her things at the beach. Altogether the work overwhelms the reader with a broad and diverse view of everyday life in Japan. The third piece would have been drowned out by the other two works were it not such a memorable genre--soft porn. Within the first 30 seconds, I was not sure whether to be confused, angered, or disgusted.
The pictures in the back room were not nearly as big as those displayed in front. However, they were equally dramatic. Again, Aida's work first captures the viewer's attention with his aggressive imagery. The series is called "Artificial Edible Girls." There we see a pretty young girl named Mimi, varying in size from a small fish to a chicken being prepared for the next meal. It is difficult to say if the loving smile of the girl looking right out at the viewer is disturbing or morbidly humorous. The text that goes with this series explains who “Mimi” is. In this scenario, it is around the year 3000 and there is a shortage of food. From the DNA of the colitis germ (colitis being an infection of the colon, a.k.a irritable bowl syndrome) is created a creature that looks like a young girl, who is to be the planet's new food source. Mimi has no fear of death and no sense of pain. She has a selfless personality that is similar to the hare in the Native American legend who offers up its own life and throws itself against the second sun, thus creating the moon. Mimi is a very humane food source as there is no longer a need to kill animals. The argument echoes Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal where Swift argues how beneficial it would be for the Irish if the British ate their young. The series consists of about 50 individual paintings total, though not all of them are on display. It shows off Aida's skill and leaves the viewer no doubt that he is a talented artist. The combination of violence and beauty invokes both confusion and curiosity. On the one hand you are drawn into the various delicately painted scenes in which pretty Mimi is graphically mutilated, while at the same time you are mildly disgusted by it, while again, you find yourself smirking in spite of yourself at the sushi Mimi or Mimi with tofu.
When asked why he decided to use such graphic imagery, Aida explained that this style is a breakaway from the older Japanese style that is very cheerful and submissive. It is a style that he calls “left-wing.” While there are many reasons why he uses the imagery that he does, he is content to say that he simply prefers the newer--in his words--more "democratic style of art." He insists that he likes to focus on natural, everyday things. This is a little confusing considering how surreal his art is. At one point the translator left the table. While waiting for his return I looked at a book of Aida's work in front of me. I pointed to one piece that was of a large blender that held tiny female bodies in it. I pointed to the picture and asked, “blender?” He smiled and nodded. Then I asked him, “natural?” He looked at me with a smirk, pointed to his head and said: “natural in here.”
Erika Yoshino's work across the room compliments Aida's series. It is unnerving seeing the photographic row end with two little girls smiling and blindfolded, oblivious to Yoneharra's photograph of the almost-nude model on the wall next to them and the disturbingly realistic Mimi staring at them from across the room. The series of Yoshino's pictures are more homely than those in front. At first glance, the viewer may wonder just why pictures of such ordinary things would be on display at all. Scenes from inside someone's home, to a barn, to the little girls allow the viewer to see into this intimate space of the photographer. Yoshino explained during an interview that her work is not so much to document the outside world but rather to demonstrate how she sees her world. Her work is not about one scene or one photograph. It is about her world as a whole. While some of the individual pieces in the backroom appeared to value everyday minutiae that we often take for granted, the large collage out front slaps the viewer in the face with the multitude of scenes she encounters in her daily life. Some of the photographs brought out a romantic, almost nostalgic look on everyday scenes. The angle or lighting she used to her advantage, to capture her subjects in their best moment. Were we to see these same subjects with our own eyes, it would appear very different but this is what Yoshino enjoys the most about photography; how the subject always appears different in the photograph than in real life.
Looking out from the sides of the room were Yonehara's models. True to his style, the same models tease the viewer with near exposure while others lie open showing some things but promising more. His work sits perfectly in between porn and art. While it is rather mild for pornography, it is a little extreme for art. Whether the viewer decides to write his work off as porn or acknowledge it as art is beside the point when judging an individual piece. Throwing labels aside, there is a way in which Yonehara savors his subject as he takes multiple pictures of each model in the same seductive pose. As with much of the art displayed in this exhibit, it is difficult to look at Yonehara's works without feeling one's own bias come out. For example, seeing a girl from behind on her knees leaning forward with her arms spread out on the bed may not win everyone over. When asked about his work, Yonehara says that his fan base is usually 20 to 25-year-old urban kids, typically in the Japanese punk or hip-hop subculture, which is usually separated from Japanese mainstream media. The girls he photographs usually have the look that belongs to that crowd. The pictures themselves are on small Polaroid-like snapshots and have an amateur look about them. Unlike girls in Playboy or Penthouse, the models wear little to no make up and are in normal settings. He takes care to show a small amount of assertiveness in his pictures as the model looks directly into the camera. There are also a few pictures that do not entirely appear sexual at all (such as one model where she is under the covers with her head in the pillow laughing). However, the general role of the model is one of seduction. This role for the women is cliché but Yonehara explains that it is not just about a guy looking at a sexy picture. He points out that there are many dimensions to his photographs. First, for him, it is about the relationship he develops with the models during the photo session. There is a nonsexual trust between him and the model as he takes pictures of her in a very sexual way. He mentions it is also about the woman or the model wishing to be desired. So rather than the model being a victim of her own sexuality, she enjoys it and enjoys the man's desire. This explanation may not convince everyone, as there is a dark side to pornography in its sexual exploitation and objectification, but Yonehara believes that his type of work is more about the interaction between a man and a woman, not one exploiting the other.
Whether the themes are mundane, profane, or just taboo, each artist tries to show a piece of their world they feel is not normally portrayed. This is far different from the pop art and anime from Japan that are typically seen in local media. Their work pushes the viewer away from his comfort level and forces him to reexamine his own assumptions on art. One is not sure whether to assume Aida is a satirist or a misogynist, if Yonehara is an artist or just another porn photographer justifying his work, or if Yoshino is capturing significant yet fleeting ordinary moments, or indiscriminately taking pictures around her. I highly recommend anyone to go see this exhibit at the 4-F Gallery in Chinatown. It is an exhibit that raises more questions than answers yet altogether makes for a very entertaining event.
Nonchalant
4-F Gallery
977 Chung King Rd., Los Angeles (Chinatown), CA 90012
Wednesday - Saturday 12:00 - 6:00 pm; 213-617-4948
http://www.assemblylanguage.com/reviews/Aida.html
http://www.bbb-inc.co.jp/aida/
http://www.partobject.com/ok_ey/ey/ey.htm
http://www.brandts.dk/katalog/abne/htmlen/outof_en/outof_en.html
Published: Friday, September 17, 2004
