Some time ago, the mascot of the 2025 Osaka World Expo was finally determined and announced, which was unexpected in Japan as if it were expected. After experiencing the Tokyo Olympics, it is not too strange to have a mascot with such an image. This mascot, which stands out from the 1898 works, represents the free change like water, reminiscent of Osaka, known as the "Water Capital", and reflects the diversity of Osaka and the World Expo. However, as soon as the news of the confirmation of the mascot of the Osaka World Expo was announced, there was an uproar on the Internet, and various versions of the mascot were launched, and some people jokingly called the mascot a "monster that eats people while laughing".
Similar "ugly things" are not uncommon in Japan, as can be seen from the early ukiyo-e nocturnal drawings of hundreds of ghosts. But you can't deny the artistry of these works because they are "not pretty". "Art" is blurred at all levels, and this boundary can of course also be applied to the division of beauty and ugliness. Art is broader and more subjective, and the art work produced by mixing technique and imagination cannot be evaluated by simple beauty and ugliness. The atmosphere and emotions evoked by the viewer when looking at a work are the meaning of the work of art. It doesn't have to be "beautiful", but the "ugly" thing in an exaggerated way provokes a powerful impact, either ironic or reflective. "Ugly stuff" also has a big charm.
The following is an introduction to two Japanese artists who also make "ugly things" in different ways.
Tajima enjoys himself with carving
Tajima Yuki is a woodcarver artist. Born into a family of engravers, his family has been engaged in Buddhist carving for five generations, and he naturally chose this profession, entering the Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts at the university, majoring in carving, and winning the International Taki fuji Art Award. But Tajima did not choose a Buddha statue, but carved a strange small animal. Everyone should have seen the ugly little Tibetan fox he carved, and there was a unique sense of humor in the seemingly "fierce" expression. These wood carvings, handmade by Tajima at Chiba's workshop, have a magical power that can't help but be enchanted.
Tajima's sculptural profession is a profession that requires extremely strict feelings and expressions of three-dimensional space. The Department of Plastic Surgery focuses on cultivating students' self-expression, which requires students to have independent thinking and independent opinions.
Form-making is not just about improving technique, but about training perceptual awareness. Train sensitivity, observation, generalization, analytical, logical thinking, aesthetics, and at the same time more clearly understand abstract thinking, expressive thinking, conceptual thinking, etc. Among them, the engraving profession has extremely strict requirements for the feeling and expression of three-dimensional space. The course consists of drawing and clay sculpture teaching, combined with the orientation of the entrance examination, interspersed with the practice of human body, self-portrait, plaster, sketching of animals and plants, and clay sculpture in addition to the basic practice of sketching. Emphasis is placed on training students' spatial sensibility and cultivating their unique perspectives and insights.
Yusuke Hanai's painting
Born in 1978, Yusuke Hanai grew up exposed to traditional Japanese education and went to the United States and fell in love with the West Coast culture of the United States. From Yusuke Hanai's works, you can find the shadow of both American street culture and Japanese style. His protagonist is often a decadent middle-aged man who is not handsome, with sagging eye bags, a hunched back, half-smoking a cigarette and an empty beer bottle. The man in the painting has unremitting mourning, cynicism and mockery of life, after seeing his paintings you will understand, it is no wonder that now Yusuke Hanai has become the most popular Japanese contemporary artist after Takashi Murakami and KAWS, BEAMS, VANS, Nixon and other well-known brands have cooperated with it. Yusuke Hanai did not receive professional training in painting in his youth, but only regarded painting as a hobby, until he went to the United States, where he studied illustration at the San Francisco Institute of Art, transforming from web designer to artist.
Yusuke Hanai's illustration major is often confused with a character design major in Japan, but the content of the study is very different. The Illustration major mainly researches picture book production, book binding design, font design, graphic design and other content. In the illustration major, more attention is paid to students' self-expression and cultivates students' unique painting expression. Different painting pigments, different painting forms are used to make works. After graduation, you can be active in many fields such as picture books, illustration, book binding, graphic design, etc. In the examination, compared with other majors, more attention is paid to the information conveyed in the students' paintings and the fullness of the picture.
After reading the works of the above two artists, do you also have a new understanding of "ugly"?
Who says that to make art you have to make "beautiful things", often sometimes it is not so perfect to have more vitality. Whether it's sculpture or illustration, which art form can take on your expression depends on what you choose to do more.