Shane Le Mar

Artists Research - AP301 Reflective Practice

Takashi Murakami is a contemporary artist who amongst

many other things founded the Superflat art movement. This
is an artistic movement that is heavily influenced by manga
and anime both past and present. Superflat is very much a
postmodern movement meant to refer to different types of
‘flattened art’ in Japanese art, be that anime, pop culture, fine
art etc but most of all it highlights the very heavily
consumer-based culture in Japan. This movement whilst
mainly confined to Japan and the Eastern world some
American artists have adopted it and created a hybrid version
called ‘SoFlo Superflat’ which is a mixture of Southern
Florida and the Superflat movement and is usually expressed
through colourful graffiti and some artists specialise in this.
But for Murakami the Superflat movement is a way to
explore and expose the Japanese Consumerist Culture,
sometimes through the sexual fetishization that took hold in
post-war Japan. A huge part of that which is prevalent in most (if not all anime) is Lolicon art
and culture. (Lolicon is the term for the Media that focuses on the attraction to
young/prepubescent girls, the term ‘ero-kawaii’ (or
cute-erotic) is often used to describe the characters
used in these shows/artworks. Generally, it is
considered to be paraphilic tendency however it
widely accepted in Japan, Japanese Culture and
Anime – so much so that it is extremely common for
anime to include at least one or two Lolicon
characters per show.) Other works that the Superflat
movement explores are a fear of growing up/growing older and desires. I find it fascinating,
both the subjects and the way that Takashi explores them, this captivation is not only felt by
Artists and Animators but even spans into the wider world and celebrity culture with Takashi
working with and being personal friends with the Worldwide #1 Artist Billie Eilish – He
created a Music Video for one of her songs which
contains a heavily stylized representation of Billie as
a younger ‘lolicon’ version of herself.
It’s not just Murakami’s fantastic theory work that
interests me, it is also his regular artwork which
features all of the above elements, ending up with
creating vibrant works of art that captivate and
hypnotize the viewer. It is for his Theoretical and
Practical work that I really enjoy almost everything he puts out. Despite all this however I’ve
not been directly influenced by him, I do try to incorporate his wild colours and vibrant
scenes in some of my commissions (specifically the ones under my guise of the
Steampowered Animator when I have worked with Professor Elemental) as they often require
me to create wild, psychedelic imagery.
Shane Le Mar

The second Artist I’d like to focus on is Hans Richter, he

was a Painter, Avant-Gardist, Experimental Filmmaker,
Producer and Graphic Artist. This meant over his active
years he created a huge mass of works however for this
section of research I’d like to focus on his Experimental
Filmmaking and Graphic Art, these two areas of his study
were no more apparent than in his Rhythmus Series of
Absolute Films (of which there were three – Rhythmus 21
[1921] – often considered as the first completely abstract
film, Rhythmus 23 [1923] and finally Rhythmus 25 [1925]).
The reason that these three films drew me in more than his
other works is that upon my initial viewing of the films I got
a feeling of Motion Graphics, of course this is not at all what
was intended as they are a true amalgamation of Music, Art
and Film. After he created this series, he went on to create Stop Motion Animations,
Experimental Films and Experimental Documentaries but there is something about his initial
works that feel raw and experimental. He was also one of the leading figures in the Dadaist
movement of the early 20th Century and is
the person to coin the term ‘Anti-Art’.
I think they appeal to me as I’ve spent the
majority of the past few years designing
and animating motion graphics, and the
moving shapes of Rhythmus is incredibly
reminiscent of what I’ve been doing these
past few years. Not to mention that his
work collaborating with composers to
create the harmony between that his
visuals and sound that most of his work utilized. His work with the Rhythmus series shows
this off at an amazing level. This has led me to want to re-create his work on Rhythmus 21 but
with today’s technology & skills, I’d like to remake sections to create a modern (shorter)
remake.
As I’ve mentioned before I’ve not
really had a solid influence in my
pursuit of Animation, least of all an
abstract influence. I’m not the
greatest fan of the experimental, nor
the abstract however after being
taught about people like Han’s
Richter and many other I’ve had the
time and tools to re-evaluate my
outlook on this style of work. Whilst
still not in any way my favourite
works or artists, I can now appreciate the thought process behind certain works, the meaning
of others and the absurdity of some. With Richter’s work I can certainly see a thought process
there which is why I’ve chosen to replicate his work as part of this module.
Shane Le Mar
Shane Le Mar

Finally, I’d like to talk about the Avant-

Garde Anime director Masaaki Yuasa.
Whilst he is not often considered a
typically Abstract Director/Animator,
after watching some of his work’s it
would be hard to deny that his work is
Abstract. And despite this abstract style
his work has to it, it has helped to bring
Anime into the western work. It’s done
this with his ever changing, improving,
and colourful art style. His colour
choices and genuinely ridiculous visuals go towards backing up me calling him an Abstract
Artist. Some examples of his work that reached the west in a big way would be Kaiba, The
Night is Short Walk on Girl and The Tatami Galaxy, all of which feature his weird and
wacky style of Animation which is very fluid in places, rigid in others and just disconcerting
to the viewer – This is one of the great reasons I adore his work and view it from a standpoint
of it being abstract. To sit down
and watch The Night is Short
Walk on Girl is very reminiscent
of sitting down to watch an
experimental movie about lost
love and chance meetings. The
premise is quite simply a girl
walking the streets of Kyoto
hoping to bump into a guy she
has a crush on (but is in fact
stalking him from bar-to-bar)
ending up getting into scrapes. It’s an absolute treat to see this hapless (and seemingly one
sided) love story play out. The way the film is Animated adds to that feeling of it being an
experimental film. Another one of my favourite elements to his style (and in most of his
works) are the action sequences (be it Devilman fighting off strip club Demons in Devilman
Crybaby or the table tennis matches in Ping Pong). They all feel roto-scoped, but they are not
– it’s just him and his animators free
handing it all which really adds to
that rich ‘abstract’ and uniquely
‘experimental’ feel.
Despite loving Yuasa’s work once
again it was not a major influence in
my motivation to want to become an
animator, however his work was one
of the major works that persuaded me
to have a different outlook on the
abstract and the experimental. Researching and watching so much of his Anime’s whilst
studying film theory etc has made me look at his (and many other works) with a slightly
different perspective. So, whilst not a direct inspiration to me Yuasa’s work has helped me to
at least appreciate the Abstract more than I previously could have without him.
Shane Le Mar

Bibliography:

Amazonaws, (2020), Masaaki Yuasa [ONLINE]. Available at:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/a.nime.me/0129/1596/masaaki.jpg [Accessed 20 February 2020].
Fonation Louis Vuitton, (2020), Takashi Murakami [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/content/flvinternet/en/collection/artists/takashi-
murakami/_jcr_content/imageArtist.flvcrop.2048.5000.jpeg [Accessed 14 February 2020].
Garage Magazine's, (2019), Billie Eilish Opens Up About Living With Tourette's Syndrome
& Depression [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.justjared.com/photo-
gallery/4221006/takashi-murakami-garage-magazine-issue-16-2019-11/ [Accessed 19
February 2020].
Hans Richter, (1921), Rhythmus 21 [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYPb8uIQENs [Accessed 11 February 2020].
IMDB, (2020), Hans Richter [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0725257/mediaviewer/rm952644864 [Accessed 11 February
2020].
Masaaki Yuasa/Polygon, (2018), Follow Masaaki Yuasa’s Night is Short, Walk on Girl with
his TV classic, The Tatami Galaxy [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/22/17769216/the-tatami-galaxy-masaaki-yuasa-night-is-
short-walk-on-girl [Accessed 19 February 2020].
The Art Story, (2020), Hans Richter [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/richter-hans/ [Accessed 11 February 2020].
Wikipedia, (2020), Hans Richter [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Richter_(artist) [Accessed 11 February 2020].
Wikipedia, (2020), Rhythmus 21 [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythmus_21 [Accessed 11 February 2020].