Murakami and Nara (Assignment for Thursday, March 30th)

1. Panda Family - Happiness    by  Murakami Takashi

        In this image, Panda Geant and her children are riding on a ball made up of various colorful skulls, flying over a field of colorful flowers. Several bamboo trees are growing on the ball and one of the baby panda is holding one bamboo branch. There are two fire-like things which are probably will-o'-the-wisps, red and white, under the skull ball. In the sky behind them are white clouds which look like cotton candies, fluffy and soft. 
        All the living things with mouths in this image seem to be smiling and very happy, including the flower on the lower right corner, as the title "Happiness" indicates. The colors used are quite rich. Even in the mouth of Panda Geant, there are five colors including blue, yellow, orange, pink, green. All these correspond well with "happiness", except the giant skull ball and two fires which implies death. Does that mean that happiness does not exist if death is still there, that true happiness can only be found when death is overcome? The rainbow-like colors in the mouth of Panda Geant look like her teeth, which makes her laughing a teasing grin. This does not go well with her cuteness at all. It is like she is saying: "You want happiness? First learn how to travel through time and space like me." But on the other hand, I am also thinking that maybe she is saying: "Seize the day, and be happy, because everyone is on a skull ball."  



2. I Think, Therefore I Am... A Dog     by Nara Yoshitomo


        This is an installation by Nara Yoshitomo. I found it interesting mostly because of its title "I Think, Therefore I Am... A Dog". It turns a famous saying by French philosopher René Descartes into a normal sentence in our daily life. The dog closes its eyes and seems to smelling the bone hung on a train from a steel pipe sticking out of the wall. We can only see half of the dog's body and imagine from its connecting to the wall that maybe it comes out of the empty wall directly. It implies that when people think, they are free, like the blank wall, but they cannot cut themselves away from the instinct or desire. People tend to be lured by all kinds of temptations, which draws them from rational thinking. Then we become animal again, no longer the advanced privileged species that can think and be free. 
        But after reading the text about Nara's interview, in which he says that his works has no definite meaning, and that viewers often see themselves in his works, I start to think that maybe I am the one who is not able to resist desires and temptations, like this dog. Is this necessarily a good thing or bad thing? Not sure. 

Project Progress March 23, 2017

        I was studying the Ikebana school of Sogetsu (http://www.sogetsu.or.jp/e/ ), but found that it may have gone beyond my ability, so I shifted to another topic that I am also interested in: children. So I have searched for some materials to read, among which the following two are what I am reading:

1. Visual Representations of Children (http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791231/obo-9780199791231-0060.xml)

2. Children's Picturebooks, The Art of Visual Storytelling by Martin Salisbury, Morag Styles. (https://archive.org/stream/Childrens_Picturebooks_The_Art_of_Visual_Storytelling_by_Martin_Salisbury_Morag_/Childrens_Picturebooks_The_Art_of_Visual_Storytelling_by_Martin_Salisbury_Morag_Styles_djvu.txt )
        Honestly I am still trying to figure out where this interest would take me and it would be great if you can give me some professional advice. Thank you.

"In Praise of Shadows" Assignment (due March 15)

1.  Read “In Praise of Shadows” if you haven’t already.  Then, on your personal blog, do the following:

a. Present what you think is the main point of the essay.

        I think the main point of the essay is that Japanese people base their aesthetic taste on the appreciation of shadows, which can be seen from traditional Japanese architecture (especially toilets), food, food containers, kimono, Nō and nearly every aspect of life. However, in the process of Westernization and modernization, the beauty of darkness is appreciated and sought by less and less Japanese people. Therefore, while grateful for the advantages brought by the age, the author is also calling for resuming this traditional taste of beauty at least in some areas like literature or the arts.

b. Discuss two items/discussions from the essay that you found interesting, and post images that illustrate points made by Tanizaki.  Even if you don’t necessarily agree with his points, try to find images that illustrate the points from his perspective. Please do not deal with certain content that might be considered today to be overtly racist or sexist (although you can deal with such things as kimono or teeth-blackening if you wish).  

        The two discussions that I found interesting are:

       1) Drinking soup in a lacquer bowl is a delight.

2) Nō has great sexual appeal than Kabuki.

 

c. Present one or two questions or topics for discussion in class. You can include points he makes where you don’t understand what he’s trying to say.

       The preservation of traditional aesthetic ideology and elements is important and necessary in this globalized age. The question is that it is expensive to do so and people nowadays are so used to modern facilities. What should we do to resume these aesthetic traditions or integrate them into our modern life?