Fiction.Love Ultra New Vision in Contemporary Art is the grammatically challenged title of the exhibition currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art that asks in its press release, "Are comics and animation becoming new art forms?" and strangely enough, doesn't even bother to answer its own question.
A total of 39 artists, mostly from Japan and Taiwan, are included in this show that is heavy on paintings and light on narrative. However, despite its faults (and there are quite a few), the exhibition is definitely a crowd pleaser, where one can roam about the gallery space looking at cutesy and glittery imagery without having to think too much.
There is an unevenness in quality, as museum-level artists are shown next to artists barely one step above student level. However, that unevenness seems to work for itself and gives off a fresh energy, as evidenced by the enjoyment of the high-density audience on opening day.
Kristy Chu 's (曲家瑞) glass case filled with dolls is entertaining for those who like looking at glass cases filled with dolls. Shouichi Keneda's corporate-logo covered sharks are fun and his thickly impastoed shark paintings look juicy, but he hasn't pushed his imagery convincingly or obsessively enough, making one wonder where will he go with this? How will he further develop his work? South Korean artist Lee Dong-i promises more with his Warhol-inspired elevator papered with brightly colored Atomaus heads; a character he created by combining Astroboy with Mickey Mouse.
On/Megumi, Akiyoshi's neonlit dress channels the spirit of Atsuko Tanaki's famed light-bulb dress of 1956. One can don on the dress and sit alone in a silvery foil chamber for a private viewing experience.
Shintaro Miyaki's repetitive figures of a big-headed pony-tailed parachute-like girl hints at outsider art since it contains an air of creepy obsessiveness to detail. Chiho Aoshima's work is reminiscent of the paintings of pre-pubescent girls by famed institutionalized outsider artist Henry Darger. Aoshima's digital and chromogenic prints of beautiful apricot blossoms suggest Japanese woodcuts and are seductively luscious even when juxtaposed with bleeding heads. Hideaki Kawashima's amoeba-like painted portraits with huge haunting watery eyes are purely sublime and yes, terribly erotic.
A collection of Yoshitomo Nara paintings and drawings is well worth the price of admission. Nara's somber-toned canvases of heavy-lidded children and smiling puppies seem deceptively simple but his innocent-like figures also contain a sinister air, a loss of innocence that triggers deep emotional responses in viewers. Unfortunately though, the two-story wooden shack done up like his studio feels gratuitous, like a shrine to an artistic genius.
And with an exhibition that often alludes to manga's influence on contemporary art, the work of Takashi Murakami is oddly absent here. Perhaps creating designs for Louis Vuitton puts him out of the museum's budget. One artist working in the vein of Murakami is Taiwanese Hung Tunglu (洪東祿), who is poorly represented here with a couple of commercial-oriented sculptures rather than his dynamic lenticulars of Japanese comic figures such as Sailor Moon.
Liu Shih-fen's (劉世芬) premise of a baby born without a brain is haunting and brings a dose of reality, which thus sets up a nice dialogue with Nara's work. Yet, her pink room installation with photos of clouds maudlinly sentimentalizes an otherwise strong idea.
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