I want to enter the Digital Industry!! '98,
Douhousa Publishing, 1998, pp. 66-75.
A Genius of Street Art Emerges
Artist Rica Takashima
Have you heard of Ms. Rica Takashima's "Aozora [Azure Sky] Art"? It's a place overflowing with heart and playfulness. Rica Takashima-san, who continues to pursue such endeavors, is currently drawn towards portraying modern cities. What kind of power do digital tools provide in order to help contemporary Japan's "cityscapes" make it as art in the cities?
Rica Takashima
Artist. A graduate of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Winning a certain competition led to her switching focus to production art, and aiming towards [providing/creating] communication with art that could be enjoyed and understood by a
much broader audience, she has been active with "Aozora [Azure Sky] Art". A highly sought after illustrator as well, she creates illustrations used in a variety of media, such as CD jackets, magazines, background art for television show credits, and cosmetic packaging.
Also, in '98, she was selected to be one of the participating artists in the international art festival "Museum City Fukuoka" that was held in Fukuoka [Japan].
Begin
Rica-style "Communication Art"
I starting working as an illustrator around '90, and I have been creating for a variety of media formats.
This is something I realized working on jobs that were aimed at large audiences, that although I occasionally received fan mail, in general I could not directly communicate with the audience on a one-on-one basis. I started thinking how I could communicate on (such) a personal level with many different people using art, and that is how "Aozora Art" was born.
Back in '94, there was a pedestrian street in Harajuku, so I mixed with the (musical) bands that performed there, and designed it (Aozora Art) in this style of "street art". Aozora Art is a collage composed of (many) people from all different walks of life. The staff go out on the town or participate in (various) events, and put on art(-related) activities that the people who come to these things could freely participate in. To those who do participate, we present them on the spot with the original artwork that we had created together.
The reason why I descended upon the city in the form of street art is, well, in general art is usually something one goes to a museum and looks at silently, isn't it. One often cannot approach works exhibited in a museum too closely or touch them. It is not fun for me to just stand there and look at art while murmuring "hmm" <laugh>. Even though I actually want to know the artist's perspective, philosophies, or their feelings when they produced that piece, only the work itself is displayed, and the humanity of the artist is not introduced at all, at museums.
After reading the catalogue that I would rather not read (because it) is so jam-packed with words that it is like a manuscript, I finally feel like I understand (the artist/work). I really think we should be beyond that era, though.
That being said, I do love such formal works as well. (However, I feel) There are many different ways to introduce artwork in a more carefree and fun light, as opposed to (in the guise of) studying them. Therefore, I would like to continue going out on the town,
explaining art in a simple, understandable way so that people can enjoy it more. And if everyone can participate in it as well-it would be a lot of fun if art and people could communicate (with each other).
Aozora Art
Earth-defending aliens from the Planet Art?!
Everyone at Aozora Art wears berets, and is active in attempting communication with the people they meet. The (whimsical/fictional) story behind the berets is that Aozora Art was born in order to fulfill the mission ordered by "Planet Art"-to protect Earth from (evil) "Hensachi", who rob children of their happiness and talent and try to create monotonous humans, and (instead) transform (Earth) into a planet overflowing with Art-<laugh>.
[NOTE: "Hensachi" is an imaginary word derived from the existing "hensachi", which is a mathematical term similar to a standard deviation. Used as a ranking tool, it is the single most significant number given by a school to their students, because it determines a child's academic standing, and ultimately, his or her acceptance to or rejection by different colleges.] Therefore, the berets that the staff wear (actually) serve as antennae that receive directives (transmitted/issued) from "Planet Art" <laugh>.
So, it is an Aozora Art that has such stories as well, but there are over 10 types of activity series that we engage in. They include "Hokoten Sketch Rally", "Nude on the street", "A Graduation Ceremony * An Entrance Ceremony", and "Feeling Much Better on Cartoon", but they are all (audience) participation art forms. If the themes focus on everyday concepts, they are easy (for the general public) to understand, and people will hold interest in and enjoy (participating in) them.
The "Hokoten Sketch Rally" is an art (activity) that allows people to enjoy a sketch more freely. Originally, a sketch described the drawing of a stationary model in pencil or other media, but it (the "Hokoten Sketch Rally") developed from questions such as why couldn't the model move (around), or why does it (the work) have to resemble (or even be) (the model). Volunteers among the participants take turns at being the models. The models are allowed to move or do whatever they want-they can wear simple costumes (outfits) or have businessmen hold "Suponichi" [a daily tabloid paper mainly filled with sports digests and porn, often considered a symbol of the sorry state of businessmen mentality] <laugh>.
I (initially) feared that people would retreat if they were asked to draw pictures, but because it was presented as free-form art, the fun of drawing was communicated to them, and there were quite a lot of participants."Nude on the street" was inspired by the recent trend of every Tom, Dick, and Harry (wanting to) show off their pubic hair [following the legalization of showing pubic hair in print publications]-in that case, we all decided to create a pubic hair photo collection together, so I created ("nude") cutouts <full size poster board characters whose faces are cut out so that people can stick their own faces out of the holes> for them <laugh>. The (finished) artwork that was presented to them was (in the form of) a top-secret album complete with (lock and) key
[Text (continued from previous page)]
<laugh>. I also gathered and edited the pictures that were taken with digital cameras and created a top-secret floppy (disk) as well, but back in 1994, there were few people who requested the floppy.
The start of the "A Graduation Ceremony * An Entrance Ceremony" was me thinking it would be fun if there was some ceremony anyone could freely participate in, as opposed to the usual example where school graduation ceremonies are completely structured by that school. It is an art (activity) that allows one to exercise their own will and settle all sorts of matters. Whatever one announces as wanting to begin or graduate from, one can make into an artwork diploma or certificate and be presented with it. I felt that on a daily basis, there are a lot of people who want to settle things within themselves, and that no matter how small they are, fresh starts are necessary.
Speaking of settling matters, there is (also) something called "Feeling Much Better on Cartoon".
This was expanded from an "apology art" concept that I thought up based on my opinion that, in this day and age 50 years post-war [World War II], it would be a good thing to acquire the habit of apologizing for things close to home. There are times on a daily basis when one is unable to say the words "thank you" or "I'm sorry". This (activity) helps people transform such feelings into art and allows them to create and send a testimonial that conveys those feelings to the person(s) to whom they had failed to say it to (in the first place). Many people of all ages and both sexes participated in this (activity). It was also inspiring that there were so many sincere messages.
[Picture caption]
A scene from the "A Graduation Ceremony ・An Entrance Ceremony"
Color
The color(s) of an artist that descended up on the city
Ever since I started the street art activities, I've been working energetically no matter what (happened). If I didn't, (I feel) I would lose to the city's vastness and power. Even when it comes to clothing, I feel I have to stand out, so when it is "Aozora Art" time, I never wear black clothes. And the same can be said for the colors in the works I create.
Each color has its own strength. I feel like it is similar to the concept of timbre that is found in music, but in terms of art, (it would refer to) colors that the people viewing them could enjoy.
Colors that can stand up to the city's power-that's why the colors I use end up being flashy as well. Back in my student days, I would hole up in my atelier and churn out paintings, but if I compare the past with the present, my (own) impressions of (different) colors have vastly changed since I emerged out-of-doors.
Currently, the main media I use when I create paintings are marker pens, so there are times when I have had to express myself using a limited palette, and it (the work) always ends up in strong, flashy colors. However, that is not the only reason (for the flashy colors).
In cities, the buildings may be gray, but billboards and neon signs are very colorful and flashy.
If one gazes upon a city from that perspective, one will come to understand that the city is a place that possesses very bright, cheerful colors. One just usually doesn't realize this because one is too used to staring at the city (every day), but if you try drawing it, you find out that you actually do draw it as it is, and are not (artificially) enhancing it. Therefore, in order to be able to draw in and establish communication with more and more people through painting pictures in the city,
I feel that it is necessary to use strong and glamorous colors that can stand up to that (task).
Brand-New
Clip out (and save) "the things we have because we are in the present"
Separate from "Aozora Art", I do have a lot of interest in "cityscapes". I feel that until recently, information from abroad was reaching us (only) after being filtered through some degree of censorship. That (censorship) would include the press's filters, the editors' filters, the directors' filters, and so on.....now with the rapid spread of the internet, it is (finally) possible to obtain information transmitted by a single individual, isn't it.
Observing such flow of information, I decided to engage in (some) self-reflection. I am in a country within Asia called Japan, and I am in a place within Japan called Tokyo, and I live in a really small apartment within that (Tokyo)-(and then) I really felt my own insignificance.
And when I thought about what that insignificant me is (made up of), I started feeling like I wanted to treasure much more that things "we have because we are in the present" that can be discovered among the circumstances, landscapes, and culture I currently find myself in. And so I decided I would start depicting the things that are right in front of my eyes-just like the Parisian painters of long ago who depicted the Champ-Elysees as they saw it out of their own windows.
The view out my room window (currently) shows road construction, is (very) noisy, and thus is in a terrible state right now, but that too is (a part of) culture, I have recently come to realize.
Other examples (of what I have been drawing recently) include the cityscape of Shibuya as viewed from a (public) bus window, and the scene inside a bullet train car. Those truly are landscapes of modern Japan. I feel that if I kept drawing and accumulating them, it would turn into something really interesting several hundred years from now. Just like the Floating World (woodblock) prints and the 53 Stations Along the Tokaido High Road of long ago, I can show the people of the future the landscape of the Japan of today-such work, where one can draw and create such landscapes, is the most interesting to me right now.
Digital
Transmitting art digitally
My first encounter with digital tools was around October '95, when I created a homepage to introduce the activities of "Aozora Art". Back then, there were few people who had personal homepages, and there were things that I didn't understand very well, either, so I
created it with the help from some experts. In the beginning, it was a simple thing (page) that had only one link, but (then) I made it so that it could be viewed in Japanese, English, and French......and I went to France <laugh>. What I did in France, is, in order to establish communication with local folk, I opened (as a street exhibition) Aozora Art's "You too (are/can be) a masterpiece" [*1] in front of the Pompidou Center. Lots of the various street entertainers that performed there also participated. When I introduced such goings-on on the homepage, I received (started receiving) faxes at the hotel I was staying at stating "I saw the (your) homepage". And then I got to meet those people (the senders of the faxes) the next day in front of the Pompidou. So I was able to experience such internet-facilitated communication in France as well.
The first time we ran a live webcast on our homepage was when I held the final run of "You too are a masterpiece" at the French Embassy in Tokyo. I had participants write down their impressions and entered them, along with photos taken with digital cameras, into a laptop computer, edited them, and uploaded that data from the closest ISDN pay phone.
Every time someone new participated, I went to the pay phone to send the (updated) data.
I would like to keep doing live webcasts of all sorts of art forms, using such digital tools,
from here on out.
[Photo caption]
[*1] "You too are a masterpiece": Using masterpieces from all over the world as subject matter,
I created cutout copies and took photos of participants sticking their faces out of them.
The finished works (photos) were presented to the participants.
Artworks spread digitally
I am thinking of newly adding into the Aozora Art series, a "Link Art Show" (project) that utilizes digital (technology). It would allow people all over the world, especially people in Asia, to (directly) participate in an artwork from the production stage(s). With the internet as the facilitator, I would send rough sketches that I had drawn over the internet to computers (stations) set up in art museums around the nation (Japan). Then the people who accessed them could freely color them in (on screen) and (electronically) send them back to me, and the piece would be completed after I did some additional coloring. I hope to be able to exhibit this (project) at Canal City Hakata during the international art festival
"Museum City Fukuoka" that will open in Fukuoka in October of '98. I am thinking I would decorate the small city-like meeting hall space with printouts of the finished works.
Separately from that, I also love big artwork as well, so I would like to create bigger works in the future and display them around the city. However, there are various problems inherent in this, such as how to enlarge (small) paintings, how to impart durability, how to mass produce (large) works within a short period of time...... That's when, if one utilizes digital technology, one can (easily) scan (upload) (small) paintings onto a computer, enlarge them, and do mass printouts. I do think it is inherently fun to draw large pieces by hand as well, but it is very difficult to bring forth many (such works) all at once. I feel that if one utilizes digital technology as a tool to ease the time constraint limitations of analog, then one can more efficiently take advantage of the spare time created by this (the digital technology) to focus on one's (artistic) weaknesses.
Dream
Art in Space
I would like us to travel, or rather, circle the globe as a traveling art tour. For example, if we brought "The mystical picture book store" [*1] to children around the world, I wonder what kind of pictures they would draw, or I feel (the activity project) "Art Palmistry" [*2] could work pretty much anywhere. I think it would be great for it to be an art tour where communication between cultures can occur, where we could use the art materials of the country we are visiting, and we could absorb and study the cultures of many different countries.
There are many things I want to do, but my big dream is to paint a huge sunflower on the (side of the) weather satellite "Himawari [Sunflower]" <laugh>. First, I want people all over the world to see the (this) sunflower through their telescopes. And then, I would submit a quiz such as "How many flower petals are there?", and hold a worldwide campaign (contest).
I would want to have them send back their answers and I would secretly present (award) those who answer correctly with postcards, but if a space station is created, I wouldn't mind painting (something) on it, either <laugh>.
[Photo caption 1 (vertical)]
[*1] "The mystical picture book store": One of the series (projects) put forth by Aozora Art.
[Photo caption 2 (horizontal)]
[*2] "Art Palmistry": This too is one of Aozora Art's (projects). An art (activity) that can (also) be enjoyed with children.
