Mono-Ha: The Art School of Things

Japanese art can be acclaimed as having its unique style and special spirit inspiring by its sophistication and fineness which can be hardly confused with anything else in the world. Japan is especially known for its unique art movements and styles including mono-ha, yamato-e, sumi-e, and ukiyo-e. These movements and styles developed as a result of a special vision of the world common for Japanese people who are known for their devotion and tender affection to nature and its beauty, and the desire to understand their place in the universe along with their relationship with the surrounding space; in addition, the art of Japan is remarkable for its originality which is so different from any other art conceptions in the world. In the following blog, such important art movement of the twentieth century as mono-ha will be examined in terms of its main tendencies and the influence on the modern art of Japan. Generally, it appears that mono-ha style’s main concept can be characterized as a sophisticated outlook on space along with seeing interdependent relationships with natural “things” including such simple and daily seen materials as wood, steel or cement. The other important concept of this style of art is in helping the audience to develop the awareness of their position in the open space and their relation to everything surrounding them.

Mono-ha exhibition at Blum and Poe Art Gallery, 2012.

The word mono-ha in itself can be explained as “the art school of things”, and it is known for its connection with the ideas prevailing in the Japanese society during 1960 including cultural, political and social implications. Namely, these were the ideas of nature preservation and care for the well being of every living thing, and the environmental protection. In 1968 the first work accomplished in this style attracted the attention of public by the above-mentioned concept’s realization. It was the artwork called "Phase – Mother Earth" installed in Kobe’s Sumarikyu Park during the First Open Air Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition. The work simply struck the minds of the present ones with its unusual layout. It was a whole with the depth of 2.7 meters and the diameter of 2.2 meters along with the excavated earth next to it, which was compacted into a cylinder of similar size. The power of this first remarkable piece of art accomplished in mono-ha style was an incredible one. People were standing and evaluating it for long time. This became a grandiose birth of mono-ha. Finally, one more important concept addressed within this style is in topology. In this vein, the artworks of mono-ha are characterized by the three-dimensionality and quantifiable entities. 

"Phase – Mother Earth"at Blum and Poe Art Gallery, 2012.

Further, speaking about mono-ha style, its development and its main peculiarities, it should be mentioned that it is the style peculiar for Japanese nature admiring the way of thinking developed by Japanese artisans themselves without any other influence from behind (Monroe, 261). The artworks of this style are distinguished by their abundance of themes from surrounding world and daily life of common Japanese people including nature and rural scenes with their pleasures and joys. The artists and artisans of this movement became especially active in the late sixties to early seventies of the twenties century. Mono-ha style has its indicative feature of being accomplished in wood, steel or cement without processing to express and discover a new modernism or abstract reality (Mono-ha and the Search for Fundamentals, 84). The artworks from mono-ha style reveal a lot of interesting details about Japanese way of thinking, and especially about its moving affection for nature’s glory and inspiring philosophic ideas. 

Concluding on all the information related above, it should be stated that Japanese art could be described as especially permeated with the spirit of love and devotion to nature and its beauty along with the place of an individual in the Universe and the relationships with the world around us.

In my next blog I will introduce a famous modern Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara who represent another modern art genre named Kimo kawaii.

References: 
Jarves, James. A Glimpse at the Art of Japan, Japan: Boxerbooks, Inc. Print.

Mono-ha and the Search for Fundamentals, Japan: The Museum of Modern Art,

            Saitama, 1995. Print.

Monroe, Alexandra. “The Laws of Situation; Mono-ha and beyond the Sculptural

            Paradigm”. Japanese Art after 1945: Scream against the Sky: 256-287. Print.

Tatehata, Akira and Alfred Birnbaum. "Mono-ha and Japan's Crisis of the Modern."

            Third Text (September 2002): 223-236. Print.

Modern Japanese artist-Yoshitomo Nara

Yoshitomo Nara is a famous contemporary Japanese artist who was born on 4 January 1959 at Hirosaki in the Aomori Prefecture of Japan. Nara’s artworks have received much attention in the world in 1990s during a Pop art movement in Japan. Thus his artworks reflect an artist’s experience in post-World War II when Japan was witnessing economic boom that was characterized by influx of popular western culture such as American culture and the animation of Walt Disney and Warner Brothers. Disney’s cartoon style is an animation style that common among the Japanese and which is popularly known as the manga style. He is also influenced by a Japanese culture known as the Kawaii culture or the culture of cuteness and the punk rock music, which he is a big fan (Lunning, 37). Thus his artwork is a combination of two styles: Disney’s cartoon style and emotional content of restlessness, which is characteristic of punk rock music. Therefore, he creates a specialty in a genre of Japanese pop art commonly known as kimo kawaii (meaning “disgusting cute”).

Cartoon-like children and dogs characterize majority of Nara’s artworks. The children have wide eyes and small noses while their heads are over-sized. Their limbs appear doughy due to their arms and legs that extend from their bodies as small swellings. The faces express dissatisfaction, aggressiveness and emptiness. Some of his works also "portray children holding tiny objects such as matches and knives" (Yamaguchi 131). They are often hastily scribbled on paper surfaces such as envelopes, postcards. Texts are also incorporated on these surfaces usually in any of the three languages; English, Japanese or Germany.

 “Young Girls Holding Weapons”

The little girl in “Young Girls Holding Weapons” painting is holding weapons such as knives and saws, which depict a form of aggression.  According to Michael (101) "the expression of aggression is not only enhanced by the weapons but also shown on her face". However, it is very interesting because contrary to people seeing danger in characters of his paintings and their weapons, Nara sees things differently. He rather sees children who are holding small knives surrounded by bad people holding bigger knives. In his interpretation, Nara explains that the children are defending themselves against a progressively more brutal adult world.

“Too Young to Die”

 

The little girl depicted in Nara’s “Too Young to Die” has legs and a face whose color is peachy. Her eyes are olive-green in color and bloodshot; her nose is reddish-colored while frames of dark brown hair round her large forehead. "Her mouth is little with a cigarette hanging out of it and blowing a cloud of smoke across the canvas". The image is form of presentational abstract made of acrylic whereby the little girl is the center of interest in the painting (Nara 76). The little girl is portrayed in “Too Little to Die” as one who is corrupted by worldly substances. Thus, Nara’s creations look up towards the onlooker in order for him or her to reconnect with what is happening in the real world. For instance, in this type of picture, children are viewed as able to bring change to the world someday; hence the viewer is able to reconnect with this youthful optimism. His work has been inspired by the punk rock music where there is a feeling of desperation in a world that seems as if “nothing ever happens” (Hoptman 46).

“Too Young to Die”

Through the analysis of above two computations, we can see majority of Nara’s artworks consist of characters of children who seem wiser than their years may depict. They present children and animals that are seemingly adorable and well informed of world events. His work expresses the fierce independence and alienation found in children (Yamaguchi 123). Nara invites the viewer to think of a world where the emotions were not supposed to be filtered, when innocence and unruliness went together and a world full of fantasy and worthy of exploration rather than conquest.

I will compare and contrast two modern Japanese art genre Kimo-Kawaii (Nara as a representative) and Mono-ha and their influence to Japan and even the world.

Reference:

Hoptman, Laura. Drawing Now: Eight Propositions. New York: The Museum of Modern

               Art, 2002. Print.

 Lunning, Frenchy. War/Time: Mechademia Series. Minnesota: U of Minnesota Press,

2009. Print.

Michael, Davilla. The Illusion of Art: My Amalgamation of Illustration and Contemporary

               Art. Florida: University of Central Florida Orlando, 2007. Reprint.

Nara, Yashitomo. Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody's Fool. New York: Abrams, 2010. Print.

Nara, Yashitomo. Nara: Nothing ever happens. Ohio: Museum of Contemporary Art

               Cleveland, 2003. Print.

Rivers, Charlotte. CD-Art: Innovation in CD Packaging Design: A RotoVision book.

               Beverly: Rockport Publishers, 2008. Print.

Silvester, Ngai. “The Cuteness of the Avant-Garde”. Critical Inquiry 31.4 (2005): 811

               847. Print.

Yamaguchi, Yumi. Warriors of Art: A Guide to Contemporary Japanese Artists

               Art and Design Series. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2007. Print.