SugiPOP! anime, manga, comics and their influence on contemporary art
Co-Curators: Beau Basse, LeBasse Projects and Katherine Doyle
Portsmouth Museum of Art -- One Harbour Place, Portsmouth NH
Being a fan of contemporary art, especially Japanese art, I am always on the lookout for exhibits which feature this genre. When Anna Koon, the Boston artist whose work is heavily influenced by Japanese culture, was asked to create art for a snowboard for this show, she invited me along to the opening of SugiPOP!.
I took a look at the website of the venue www.portsmouthmfa.org to find out what artists had been chosen for this exhibit. To my surprise I saw names like Murakami, Nara, Takano, Kaws, Hush and Tokyo Kamen. An amazing array of international artists had been curated for this show at a museum which did not exist two years ago. I must admit, at that point I succumbed to my reliance on pop culture and quoted Tina Fey from 30 Rock, "What the what?!"
Needless to say, I headed up to Portsmouth, NH on Thursday, October 14th to see this amazing show. Opening night of any show is always a crowded scene. You can't see the art, people are talking in front of the art, and the air is permeated with the smell of stale wine and cheese. This was different. I saw martini glasses filled with a mysterious orange concoction and rimmed with red sugar (Astro Boy cocktail) and beautifully designed cupcakes with copies of the artwork, hand-drawn on sugar wafers on the tops of the cakes. (Created by Wild Orchid Bakery in North Hampton, NH) It was exciting and refreshing.
Heading right into the main gallery the first artwork I saw was Momoyo Torimitsu’s “Somehow I Don’t Feel Comfortable”, a giant inflatable pink bunny stuffed into a small room. It was a perfect symbol for this exhibit as the Portsmouth Museum of Art is literally in a section of office spaces in a renovated industrial building. The talent and range of this show is bursting to get out of such a humble space. SugiPOP! Is a testament to making the most of what you’ve got and the gifted curators and staff have certainly done this.
The offices are “galleries” with three main open spaces for sculpture and then side areas for 2D work. The first gallery in SugiPOP! is dedicated to the original manga, Ukiyo-e prints from the 19th Century; an inspired way to begin an exhibit like this. Then moving into the other side galleries the curators progressed into the 20th Century with cels from the popular cartoon, Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu). Along the way, the viewer is given the definition of characteristics and styles of Japanese art in vinyl letters on the walls. Above the UK street artist HUSH’s “Sweet Modern Girls 3“ the definition of Shonen Manga reads: Manga targeted toward young boys.
Moving through the exhibit I found the “Super Flat” area, dedicated to the works of the genre’s star, Takashi Murakami and his followers. The work “poke!” captures your attention from across the room, brilliant colors on silver, and his sculpture “Mr. Wink Cosmos Ball” reminds us that this is a show of pure enjoyment.
SugiPOP! is an exhibit of sugary sweets and high gloss meant to entertain and educate the viewer. The show’s successful continuity takes us through the history of Japanese pop art and explores the wide-spread influence of this culture. Works of Tokyo Kamen and Aya Takano investigate our consumer-industrial powered world with a humorous melancholy while works of Yoshitomo Nara and Kaws dissect the past to create modern icons. SugiPOP! shows us these global artists are our culture’s modern raconteurs and the Portsmouth Museum of Art has elegantly constructed an exhibit of the narrative of contemporary society through art.
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The Portsmouth Museum of Art is a non-profit, community supported organization operated by a very dedicated all-volunteer staff. They are planning to move into a larger space in Portsmouth to continue to bring international acclaim to the community and the city. Many thanks to Cathy Sununu, President of the Board of Directors for assisting me with information for this article.
Please check out the diverse special events coming up for SugiPOP! at www.portsmouthmfa.org and become a member of this extraordinary museum for a mere 25 dollars!
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