浮世絵 Ukiyo-e, l’estetica del mondo fluttuante, as a contemporary value

浮世絵

L’estetica “ del mondo fluttuante” viene introdotta durante il periodo EDO (1600-1868), dominato dallo shogunato dei TOKUGAWA.

Questa tecnica artistica divenne molto popolare a Edo durante la seconda metà del XVII secolo

 a partire dalle opere monocromatiche di Hishikawa Moronobu (ca. 1670).

 All'inizio, si utilizzava soltanto inchiostro cinese,

 in seguito alcune stampe vennero colorate a mano con dei pennelli, ma nel XVIII secolo Suzuki Harunobu sviluppò la tecnica della stampa policromatica per produrre nishiki-e.

UNA CULTURA DI MASSA: albori di un arte POP (e non della pop art)

Gli Ukiyo-e non erano costosi perché erano prodotti in massa ed erano pensati principalmente per gli abitanti della città che non potevano permettersi dei veri dipinti. Alle origini, il soggetto principale degli Ukiyo-e era la vita della città, in particolare le attività e le scene dei quartieri dei divertimenti:

belle cortigiane, grossi lottatori di sumo e attori famosi erano ritratti mentre svolgevano il loro lavoro. In seguito divennero popolari anche i paesaggi, mentre non apparvero quasi mai soggetti politici e di altre classi sociali all'infuori di quelle più basse (composte appunto da cortigiane, lottatori di sumo e attori).

Il sesso non era un vero e proprio tema a sé, anche se comparve spesso in queste stampe.

Gli artisti e gli editori erano talvolta sottoposti a sanzioni per queste stampe sessualmente esplicite, dette shunga.

La bellezza femminile UKIYO-E, nel passato e oggi: ritratti BIJINGA (bijinga portraicts and the feminine beautyness, in the past and now)

美人畫

(Bijinga lit., "beautiful person picture") is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre, which predate photography.

 The term can also be used for modern media, provided the image conforms to a somewhat classic representation of a woman, usually depicted wearing kimono.

Nearly all ukiyo-e artists produced bijinga, it being one of the central themes of the genre. However, a few, including Utamaro, Suzuki Harunobu, Ito Shinsui, Toyohara Chikanobu and Torii Kiyonaga, are widely regarded as the greatest innovators and masters of the form.

 

 

北斎漫画

 

"Hokusai's Sketches” is a collection of scketches of various subjects by the Japanese artist Hokusai.

 

 

Subjects of the sketches include landscapes, flora and fauna, everyday life and the supernatural. The word manga in the title does not refer to the contemporary story-telling manga, as the sketches in the work are not connected to each other. Block-printed in three colours (black, gray and pale flesh), the Manga comprise literally thousands of images in 15 volumes, the first published in 1814, when the artist was 55.

Chris Gangitano

Kawaiizzazioni (to makes it kawaii)

 Tomoko and her Kawaiizzazioni technique:
digital art and vectorial art, painting, technique and variable sizes from A3 to 100x70 cm
A series of 20 tables and about 10 paintings KAWAIZZANO (make kawaii) brand, works of art and avant-pop icons, i mean POP massive culture, imaginations or world-famous.

Enfanta Margarita, Kitty, Coke: as 3 of the global strong icons

As in the artwork of David and Goliath, or that one with the last meal (Emmaus), or Bacchus (with Nutella) as well Judith and Olophernes (above), Tomoko takes Caravaggio, another KAWAIIZATED subject is the famous  "Enfanta Margarita de Las Meninas by Velazquez, mixed up of the bags of "Zara " or other main massive brand ...

Again with" Venus of Pasta "by Titian's Venus (which has influenced the work of Maja desnuda by Goya), however,  we can find " pilov" of " Hello Kitty"with venus or "maja" that rest in packages of pasta and she looks like are an icon of consume enjoyable mass product of european and Japanese, imagination of global economy.

Venus of Pasta (vectorial art version)

Venus of Pasta (with Kitty) Oil painting version

Other global brands like NUTELLA, Coke, Kikkomann, Nissin cup noodles, playstation psp, Smart car etc... are reinterpreted and made cool and kawaii, becoming subject of the "palette" creative of Tomoko.

kitty and Coke, artwork donate for Sanrio Foundation (project sanrio For Smiles)

www.tomokonagao.info
 
Typically in an artistic Micropop style, artists (mainly womens) makes repossess a massive icons, massive brand cultures in order to make them "own" and use them as a display of "your" imagination instead of fancy reset operation and diversity of the brands that tend to engage in mass consumption. 

An "allegory" superflat of the era of globalization, told with its symbols and its products.

>> For example, now, this is a work painting by Tomoko Nagao, one of the newest. I consider it as his point of arrival (developed from digital vectorial artworks) and a meaningful image to criticize subtly but effectively the current globalized era, the economy of the maddened virtual markets:

Narcissus (The Capital?) reflects, with SCRAPED knees. He is reflected in the iconography of the work of Caravaggio as a puddle. is reflected with the Coca-Cola, will become sad because maybe transform in a massive Brand (as in the flower that will effectively transformed).


Chris Gangitano