Eastern Promises: Contemporary Japanese, Korean & Indian Art
As China, Korea, Japan and India have evolved into global epicentres, contemporary asian artists are changing previous perceptions of asian art...
The development of animation has been intimately connected with contemporary art in Japan, exerting great
influence in recent years. Hisashi Tenmyouya’s RX-78-2 Kabuki-mono 2005 Version was among the top Japanese Contemporary
works offered in Christie’s Spring 2008 Evening Sale and melds traditional Japanese painting forms with images from animated
cartoons. In Tenymouya’s work the traditional culture of Japan has been absorbed and projected with a new, contemporary
face. This major work was among the best representations of the artist’s work to date to appear at auction. In 2007 it was
one of the very few works by contemporary artists chosen for inclusion in Japan’s travelling Gundam exhibition. It more
than doubled its pre-sale estimate to sell for HK$4,807,500.
Contemporary Japanese art reaches far beyond the often incorrectly stereotyped works of wide-eyed prepubescent girls
rendered in intoxicating colors; in fact contemporary Japanese art’s roots are embedded in the post World War II era when,
as a deeply dispirited nation, artists and civilians alike sought guidance and hope from the well-developed foreign avant-garde
art movements.
Before long, rumbling underground, beneath the formal art movements of the 1970s and 1980s such as the prevalent Gutai
and Mono-ha (developed in the 1960s), were the now prevalent sub-cultures of anime and manga. Only in the 1980s when the
worlds of otaku, anime and manga were acknowledged as true expressions of contemporary Japanese
culture itself, were these subjects accepted as high art. Thrust at piercing speed into the 1990s, Japan’s economy rapidly
developed, endured and, arguably, remains in a steadfast hi-tech revolution. The centuries-old traditions instilled in
the Japanese were suddenly swept aside by modern technology, distorting the daily lives and creative inspirations known
to date.
The sizeable impact of this rapid industrial and economic advancement cannot be underestimated; some artists were repelled
by the country’s abrupt desire to build a utopian society while others wholly embraced it. Conflicted between the new age
and custom, contemporary Japanese artists articulate probing sentiments regarding Japan’s ever-transforming society. Critical
of society yet introspective, contemporary Japanese artists have presented an extensive array of works and styles, often
being averse to the formal domestic or foreign movements that previously inspired them. Now, much of Japanese contemporary
art is an extension of the artist’s struggle to find a comfortable place within and outside him or herself, sifting through
those childhood experiences that often demarcate moments of self revelation.
Japanese contemporary art embraces subcultures such as manga, anime, fantasy and technology of the post-war period
as high art. Displaying an obsession with fantasy, these contemporary works address the fine balance between mass production,
eroticism, science fiction, heritage and the identity of Japan as a nation. The market for Japanese Contemporary Art has
seen an incredible explosion in interest as of late, growing threefold from a total of HK$12,522,000 in the Spring 2007
sale of Asian Contemporary Art to HK$36,165,000 just one season later in Christie’s Fall 2007 sale.