The dolls passed down from the Edo period may be the earliest "Japanese dolls". The little dolls in kimono and armor placed on the Girls' Day and Boys' Day in March and May are the images of Japanese dolls in our initial impression. In the Japanese dolls, they are the most solemn protectors, following the children from birth to adulthood. But as time goes into the present, when it comes to Japan, and when it comes to dolls, the most representative one is no longer a child with a round-haired and round face wearing traditional Japanese clothes, but a little girl with a soft tone, big head, two small nostrils and hanging eyes. Do you already know who I am talking about, right? Yes, it is the little girl who can remember it with just a glance, the doll written by Mito Nara.
smooth colored crayons, comic-style lines, innocent looks, but with "malignant" eyes, as a famous modern artist in Japan today, Nara Michito's doll has both the innocence of children and the complexity of humans. Combining the two in such a tacit understanding, it has made a special Japanese doll. Of course, Michito Nara is not all. In addition to him, there are more artists who have created Japanese dolls with their own style.
Nakamura Moe
Nakamura Moe, born in Tokyo in 1988, graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts of Women's University of Fine Arts. When she was in college, Moe Nakamura majored in oil painting, but she became interested in carving. Her dolls are all related to "plants". She is good at carving wood into the image of a child, like a elves in the jungle, combining the dolls with various plants, making her works full of vitality and vitality. The reason why Moe Nakamura fell in love with carving may be that "the big tree that once stood alive fell down and turned into wooden blocks, and the wooden blocks were carved into works to continue breathing and living, circulating continuously, and endlessly." Weird and cute, Moe Nakamura really "cute" his work to the extreme. The rough wood carries delicate fantasies. Moe Nakamura captures the moment when the troubled little monsters are well-behaved and quiet, and freezes them. Each viewer can feel the unique childhood association of her works.
In addition, Nakamura Moe graduated and taught as a lecturer, the University of Women's Arts is also a very well-known Japanese art school. The University of Women's Arts is the only women's educational institution in Japan established in 1900. It established a Japanese private university in 1949. It is the most historical private art university in Japan and one of the five beauties in Tokyo. When the University of Women's Art was founded, it cultivated a group of excellent female art industry elites with the school-running concept of "making women independent through art, improving women's social status, and cultivating female art educators". For example, Yuko Yamaguchi, the creator of hello Kitty, graduated from this school.
shita Ghost
shita Ghost, born in 1984, graduated from Saga University of the Arts of Kyoto, and served as a lecturer at Nagano Academy of Arts. Shimoda's original creation was inspired by the nuclear leak accident in Fukushima, and in this accident, the innocent child is the image that can best contrast with this human disaster. The dolls she depicts have horns and wings, like little angels, in the dark and vast universe. These dolls have expressionless faces, but their eyes are filled with infinite light. Shimoda Hirota, influenced by Japanese anime since childhood, likes to use bright candy colors in his works, but this color that should have shown lively and joyful, has pieced together dark, gloomy dolls that make people feel angry, desperate and disappointed. The doll, who should have been innocent and cute, began to fight against the evil environment in Shimoda's hands, was romantic and sad, and lived to death.
Koizumi Goku
Some people say Koizumi Goku will be the next Japanese Michito Nara. Koizumi, born in Miyazaki Prefecture in 1983, graduated from the Institute of Plastic Arts, Okinawa Prefecture University. He is also known for wood carvings. Unlike Nakamura Moe's plant elf, his wood carving dolls are "animal-type". The dolls wearing animal robes such as giraffes, lions, and pandas have a little tiredness and confusion.Koizumi reconstructs the connection between nature, animals and humans in his works, and expresses human loneliness with cuteness. Koizumi asked through his work: "In a highly civilized society, we are engaged in service all our lives, pursuing endless desires, but have we unknowingly lost those simple touches and joys in our lives?"
If we want to find out the common points of the above three artists and Michito Nara, it is that the dolls they created all have "depression" that is inconsistent with the childish temperament in the public's inherent impression. But when you think of Japanese culture, it is not difficult to understand how this depression comes from. Maybe Japanese dolls are born with a unique resentment. The painting and carving techniques they used when creating their works are also a very traditional teaching content in Japanese art teaching.
Artists are all adults with a childlike heart, and everyone has their own baby in their hearts. How to express and describe the doll in your heart so that it can be seen by more people? Perhaps the four artists today can inspire you.
