This piece is called "In The Floating World (Full Moon Night)" by, Yoshitomo Nara. This lithograph was done in 1999. I did this piece because I really like how the artist incorporated Ukiyo-e into his piece, making it look like the little child barged into the image and causing terror.
What makes this image interesting is how the image has so many different "layers" to it when there really are no dimensions in this print. It is a really flat image. In one way, it looks like the girl actually bit the head off of the man, but in another way it looks like she may have just drawn over the print. Also with the little girl, Yoshitomo Nara drew her with very blunt lines and her face lack's shadows, but the way her eyes are drawn really add a sort of dimension to this print. They are somewhat mysterious, and really offset her dull and pale skin. She looks pissed off, hungry, evil, and empty all at once. It kind of looks like she just woke up from a nap or is about to take a nap and is extremely cranky. So cranky, that she would chomp somebody's head off. The title is written in red on the bottom of the print, making it look like it was written with the blood of the unfortunate victim. It's great how Yoshitomo Nara would draw the girl in place of a regular full moon and completely change the print from being a standard Ukiyo-e print into this mischievous and playful work.
This piece is called, "Fish Market" by Chiho Aoshima. Chiho Aoshima is a part of Takashi Murakami's KaiKai KiKi collective. This work was done in 1999 and is a digital print on cellophane. I did this piece because I thought it was really weird and it drew my attention rather than her other works, which are really colorful and look ethereal.
Like her other works, this piece has a mixture of what appears to be innocent and light with a sort of dark and gothic feel. The woman and the fish getting butchered all have smiles on their faces. They are set in a unknown white space and it makes the print lack depth. it almost looks as if she's just floating along chopping up fish. Her and the fish all have a somewhat infantile look to them. it's sort of creepy when your eyes see the blood dripping knife and then you notice all the butchered fish and pools of blood. From there you can also see and realize that her eyes (and the fish's eyes) look somewhat hollow and just staring at the viewer. She may look like a fragile innocent women with her pigtails and wiping off her sweat, but the overall picture gives a very eery feel.
These are both great images. I think you have a kind of trend in the 'what went wrong' picture. I agree, the first image is a wonderful satire and pokes fun at older art and darkens your average cartoon child. The second depicts a pretty women doing a rough and indelicate job! I think your descriptions validly process the image, but I would suggest discussing maybe why the artist chose that subject matter and how it ultimately effects the viewer.
ReplyDeleteHey thanks for your comment, I'll keep what you said in mind next time I post!!:]
DeleteI really like that second picture you had. The most powerful things across these two images is the facial expressions on both the Nara child and the fish-chopper. The child's face is a mixture of anger and passion and emptiness, you're analysis definitely nailed this. In the second picture it's chilling that the woman's expression doesn't seem to register the bizarre amounts of gore surrounding her. It would appear that her thoughts are turned toward other things, or she's distracted. I dunno', I just thought it was an interesting contradiction in the image.
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