"Tokyo Nonsense" at Scion Space LA

BEHIND THE SCENES AT SCION/SPACE:
Tokyo Nonsense
October 4 - October 25, 2008
Curated by: Gabriel Ritter
Featuring work by Chim Pom, Ichiro Endo, Taro Izumi, Ai Kato (ai madonna), Sachiko Kazama, and Iichiro Tanaka

Scion Installation L.A.
3521 Helms Avenue (at National)
Culver City, CA. 90232
310.815.8840
Hours: Wed-Sat 11am-6pm and by appointment

Featuring: Chim Pom, Ichiro Endo, Taro Izumi, Ai Kato (ai madonna), Sachiko Kazama, Iichiro Tanaka

Words and photos by Trina Calderon

In a world of controlled chaos, aka Tokyo to these artists, show curator Gabriel Ritter has pulled together a group show that gives social critique and the nonsense of a city that most associate with bright electronics and sushi.

“I am trying to put together an idea of what emerging art in Tokyo is right now. Most of the artists have studied together at a school called Bigaku in Tokyo, and many of them are students of the artist Makoto Aida. He’s like the anti-Murakami, with a style more informed by Garo, an indie comic book that’s come up since the 60’s. It’s gritty, sometimes violent, and always non-sensical, but at the base of all of those and the show is a critique of contemporary Japanese culture.”

The name of the show has multiple meanings. Tokyo refers to all the artists whom either live or work in the city. Nonsense is a term taken from a few references in Japan’s history. In the 30’s, it was used to label a very decadent culture that was born of western influence. The television, literature, theatre, and newspapers tried to set the status quo, thus it was a critique of ‘nonsense.’ In the 60’s, it popped up again in the global protest movement, which in Japan focused on nuclear proliferation and the AMPO Treaty (which allowed nukes and a Japanese army). The students protested in the streets of Tokyo and termed the current politics ‘nonsense’.

The show is made up of six artists, one of which is the performance group, Chim Pom, which translates to a word that sounds very much like penis in Japanese. They have a great diorama of Shibuya titled “Super Rat.” Gabriel Ritter describes it as a sense of “gutter humor.” The piece’s title is making fun of Murakami’s ‘super flat.’ The model has working monitors and real rats that have been taxidermied and painted as Peekachu.

“It is playing off Godzilla, rats taking over Tokyo, and at the same time a critique is going on here. These artists are kind of coming up from back alleys and dredging up dirt people don’t like to see. They are bringing up a dirty side of society and it’s still palatable.” They also have an amazing video installation, “Black of Death.”

I don’t want to give too much away because I am really hoping they get this up on youtube soon. It’s a video that shows them hitting the Tokyo streets with stuffed crows to bring attention to the “Crow Nazi,” the Mayor of Tokyo and his policy on the large crow population in the city. He has set traps to capture the crows and burn them. Chim Pom went out with large stuffed crows and megaphones and ran around the city screaming “Caw, Caw.” Hundreds of crows followed them thru Tokyo and they have a great video of what happened which pinnacles with a visit to the Mayor’s house. This is RAD and ties in nonsense in yet another way. “The word has multiple meanings,” according to Ritter, “what is nonsense can be meaningful.”...

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http://www.juxtapoz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4438&Itemid=121