Exhibit Features Japanese Pop Art

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia

Staff Reporter

With its whimsical combination of Japanese pop culture and ukiyo-e or woodblock print tradition, Japanese contemporary art works are increasingly gaining notice around the world. Takahashi Murakami and Yoshimoto Nara are some of the most well known Japanese contemporary artists today. Buyers around the world are snapping up their works like hotcakes.

Keen interest is also being shown in the second generation of Japanese contemporary artists, who are seen as following in the footsteps of Murakami and Nara.

``Spot! Japanese Contemporary Art,'' currently held at Gallery Ihn in Samcheongdong, gives visitors a chance to view the works of nine artists including Hiroyuki Matsuura, Mayuka Yamamoto, Reiko Sakurai and Yosuke Ueno.

``The point of this exhibition is to observe the evolution of Japanese contemporary art and how the second generation has moved on after the first one (J-pop). We will spotlight the position of evolving Japanese art these days,'' curator Yang Ji-ni said in the exhibition brochure.

The artworks may simply seem cute, but actually show a distinct Japanese sensibility. At the gallery, odd-shaped cartoon-like sculptures sit on one side, while a team of candy-colored bunny costume-wearing children stand on the other. Paintings depicting odd characters, skull heads and flirtatious schoolgirls are on the walls.

Matsuura, who won the 2001 ``scout prize'' at the young artists GEISAI project conceived by Murakami, is seen as one of the most promising artists today. Starting his career as a graphic designer, Matsuura creates unique characters based on people he knows. His painting ``Frozen Blue'' shows a wide-eyed kimono-clad girl, while ``Windy Bunny'' is a series of installations featuring colorful bunny outfit-wearing children.

Yamamoto also has a fascination for depicting children wearing animal outfits. His paintings show innocent-looking children in mouse and penguin costumes, stirring up motherly instincts in the viewers.

The wide-eyed schoolgirl, a quintessential Japanese character in anime (cartoons) and manga (comics), is present in the works of both Sakurai and Satomi Gouda.