It's rare that an autograph session accompanies a gallery show, but such is the fame of Yoshitaka Amano that one was arranged at the Metaphysical Art Gallery on Saturday.
Designer, illustrator, lithographer, printer, set designer and animator — there isn’t much in the world of Japanese manga and anime that Amano hasn’t done, and each new creation — whether the graphic novel Vampire Hunter D or the media franchise Final Fantasy — built on the successes, both in terms of visual content and fan base, of its predecessors.
Over the past decade, however, Amano, now 57, has gradually moved away from the world of commercial illustration in favor of fine art. Flying to Deva Loka, a series of 25 paintings currently on view at Metaphysical Art Gallery (形而上畫廊), continues this trend while closely adhering to the visual language and mythological themes he’s developed over his four-decade career as an illustrator.
Why the shift to fine art?
“I was bored,” Amano quipped. “I continue to work in the commercial field but I’m more interested in the artwork.”
Amano added that painting offers him more freedom to explore new imaginative territory.
“In the case of commercial work, I know what the client is expecting, and the client knows what kind of result I will produce. So it is a little less exciting for me. On the other hand, fine art, my own work, there are so many unknowns there and that is more adventurous,” he said.
Amano first hit Japan’s anime and manga scene at the remarkably young age of 15. He worked in the animation department for Tatsunoko Productions and struck out on his own in 1982 as a freelance illustrator. He drew considerable attention in Japan with his fantasy saga Vampire Hunter D.
WHAT: Yoshitaka Amano: Flying to Deva Loka
WHERE: Metaphysical Art Gallery (形而上畫廊), 7F, 219, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段219號7樓)
WHEN: Until Nov. 29. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6:30pm. Tel: (02) 2711-0055
ON THE NET: www.artmap.com.tw
Early hints of his impulse to create fine art can be seen with Maten (1984) and Hiten (1989), both portfolio-cum-art books, which presented his work freed from the narrative structure of the novel or anime film. In 1996, he opened a gallery and studio in New York that enabled him to focus more on fine art — a process that he’s been increasingly involved in ever since.
The paintings on display in Flying to Deva Loka are immediately eye-catching because of their glassy and polished surfaces of bold coloring. Amano achieves this effect by first applying the coloring and details on aluminum panels. The panels are then brought to an automotive coating specialist who polishes each work 18 times. The process eliminates the texture of the brushstrokes and gives the paintings a shiny graphic finish.
In Deva Loka/Awakening, the focal point is a young, partially dressed woman balanced on the back of a large white horse — a heroine awakening to an existence that she must somehow bend to her will.
Surrounding her and ready to attack are a profusion of monster-like animals, insects and plants. The creatures possess a manic fury reminiscent of the beasts found in the post-apocalyptic worlds of Amano’s manga and anime.
Candy Girls L-4 dispenses with the furious beasts but retains the siren-like girl rendered in a crisp manga style. The barely dressed nymph crouches in a prone position, her eyes fixed on the viewer in an inviting manner.
Most of the other panels in this show are reproductions of or variations on previously conceived characters or themes. Although rendered in Amano’s unique graphic style and complemented by the panel’s glossy finish, you’d probably have to be an avid fan to enjoy them.
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