Maybe they are just living in a state of bliss. I think when people go to the toilet they may think about anything. He actually looks like he is sitting on top of a huge turd (laughs). This is a character that I created to explore my desire to lead an idle life. Is this work part of your tekito philosophy? In typical Japanese fashion, you turned it into Onigiri Man (Rice Ball Man), a sort of slacker superhero. One of the works you created for the Mori retrospective is the Non Thinker, a statue made of FRP, which obviously apes Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker. Now, as an artist I’m very inconsistent, always jumping from one subject or technique to another, so eventually I wrote the word tekito which has several meanings, like “random,” “whatever works,” or “let things work out naturally,” which summarizes my life and work quite well. This reminds me of when I was interviewed by a newspaper and they asked me to write a motto or something. Their slogan is “ideas worth spreading,” and I don’t have any ideas to spread. Language aside, I don’t know what TEDx wanted from me. Yes, I think among Japanese contemporary artists it’s only Nobuyoshi Araki and me who can’t speak English (laughs) so I was very surprised when TEDx invited me to talk in front of everybody. That’s the same phrase you opened your recent TEDxTokyo talk with. “Do you speak Japanese? Because I can’t speak English.” Makoto Aida photographed by Gianni Simone. New Yorkers had a couple of close encounters with his work, first in 2003 at the Whitney Museum of American Art (The American Effect: Global Perspectives on the United States, 1990-2003), then in 2011 at the Japan Society (Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art ). Now his time has come, but he seems to take even this newfound success in stride.īorn in 1965, the handsome-looking Aida has always had a knack for going against the flow of artistic coolness, mixing traditional technique and contemporary themes, East and West, while choosing often bizarre and uncomfortable subjects. In the past this earned him the reputation of being an artist “too hot to handle.” As a consequence he struggled for many years while less engaging Japanese artists became international superstars. He is known for his depictions of the erotic and grotesque, be it young girls, war, or other controversial subjects. I like Aida because he had to earn his fame. I grabbed something to eat and just sat in front of him, waiting for his WTF reaction. Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long: A few days ago I went to the fake French bakery Vie de France, just outside the station, and there he was, sitting at a small table near the entrance, coffee cup in his hands, sporting his usual half-asleep look and a beard full of bread crumbs. I had heard he lived in this area, so I got ready for our next chance encounter. I don’t think he remembered me from the last time we had met, at the crowded press conference for his blockbuster exhibition at the Mori Museum of Art. His gaze lingered a second longer than usual on my face, probably because I was staring at him. He was wearing his trademark green camouflage jacket. A while ago I came across Makoto Aida while changing trains at my station in the Yokohama suburbs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |