Little Boy: The Arts of Japan s Exploding Subculture - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300102852 ISBN 13: 9780300102857

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2005

Synopsis

Little Boy examines the culture of postwar Japan through its arts and popular visual media. Focusing on the youth-driven phenomenon of otaku (roughly translated as “geek culture” or “pop cult fanaticism”), Takashi Murakami and a notable group of contributors explore the complex historical influences that shape Japanese contemporary art and its distinct graphic languages. The book’s title, Little Boy, is a reference to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, thus clearly locating the birth of these new cultural forms in the trauma and generational aftershock of the atomic bomb.

This generously illustrated book showcases the work of key otaku artists and designers, many of whom are cult celebrities in Japan, and discusses their feature film and video animations, video games and internet sites, music, toys, fashion, and more. In the process, the following questions are posed: What is otaku, and what does it tell us about contemporary social, economic, and cultural life in Japan and throughout the world? How is it related to the pervasive and curious fixation on “cuteness” evident in Japanese popular culture? What impact did the atomic devastation of World War II have on the development of Japanese art and culture?

This brilliantly designed, bilingual (English and Japanese) publication examines these themes to explore how contemporary Japanese art has become inseparable from the subcultural realms of manga and animé (Japanese animation)—a world where meticulous technique, apocalyptic imagery, and high and low cultures meet.

Little Boy concludes Murakami’s “Superflat” trilogy, a project conceived in 2000 to introduce a new wave of Japanese artists and to place their work in the historical context of traditional styles and concepts.

About this title

About the Author

Takashi Murakami has exhibited works in major museums throughout the world. His high-profile public art commissions include large-scale installations at Grand Central and Rockefeller Center, and he is also well known for his design work for Louis Vuitton. Contributors include: Sawaragi Noi, Matsui Midori, Morikawa Kaichiro, Okada Toshio, Katy Siegel, and project directors Tom Eccles and Alexandra Munroe.

Reviews

Internationally renowned Japanese artist Murakami interprets the complexity of postwar Japanese art in a defining and spectacularly well-illustrated bilingual (English and Japanese) volume. Murakami coined the term superflat to describe the two-dimensional aspect of manga (comics) and anime (animated television and film), pop-culture media that have greatly influenced Japanese fine art. But superflat has societal implications as well, which are revealed when Murakami and his contributors trace the impact of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Japanese art and culture (Little Boy is the code name of the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima); analyze kawaii, the culture of cuteness (think Hello Kitty); and dissect the pop-culture movement known as otaku. A dazzling array of works--ranging from the first Godzilla movie to the anime masterpiece Neon Genesis Evangelion to the provocative paintings of Chiho Aoshima--is accompanied by essays that delve deeply into their sources, themes, and resonance. The result is a superlative overview that will thrill manga and anime enthusiasts, and open up a new world of cutting-edge aesthetics and social critique to readers unversed in the fully loaded imagery and daring styles of Japan's globally embraced artistic innovations. Donna Seaman
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Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300102852
• ISBN 13: 9780300102857
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 298
• Editor: Murakami Takashi