Defining The New Art Scene: site of the month (June 2005)

My winner for a site of the month that lends a cue on the whereabouts
of a new contemporary art scene is the rather famous
kaikaikiki factory
website, which represents a group of young japanese artists led by
ultraknown Takashi Murakami, and which arts are generally influenced
by both otaku (sci-fi anime) and kawaii (cute anime) culture.


This post-Koonsian japanese pop art relecture is fascinating
for 3 reasons:

1) It is a "creative" (as opposed to "appropriative")
contemporary art scene which evolves from a culture
of animation provided both by the mainstream and the subcultural,
thus blurring this distinction (emulating the fact that the same anime
artists often work both in mainstream and edge materials), and bringing totally
different perspectives about a futuristic or a surrealistic art.

2) It is an art that blends the childhood and adulthood themes, subjects and iconography without falling into ironic play or mere re-appropriation.
Cure sculptures are not made to make you laugh or cringe, but made for you
to find them splendid.

3) Most importantly, this art blurs the distinction between a "high art market end" and the production of mass-accessible materials, such as toys, cushions, or wallets. One motto of Murakami is "if people want it, just make it". Sort of mixing Warhol, Koons, and the socialist modernism of early russians.


Cheers,


Cedric Caspesyan
centiment@hotmail.com


PS: there is already an emergence of non-kaikai
post-otaku artists, what I think is vital
to such a scene, but KaiKai for the moment are
still representing best this new art.