Delusional:
Venus 2
by Heather Kenner
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At the Tampa Museum of Art's Anime exhibit, Venus 2 was a collection
of anime-style girls drawn on random bits of paper by an artist who simply
calls himself "Mr." (his full name is Masakatu Iwamoto). I found
this exhibit disturbing and even offensive on an intellectual level. From
some of the literature I read at the museum I found that the author of
these drawings has been criticized has having a Lolita complex, and I
fully agree. However, I think he is also delusional in his obsession and
is hoping to mask it by drawing the images on scraps of paper.
Some people
may think there is nothing sensationalistic about these drawings. Often
in "japanimation" women are drawn as scantily clad young, buxom
females. The females in the exhibit were not merely scantily clad; many
of them were completely nude. Flaunting their prepubescent figures proudly,
they stare at the viewer with almost innocent daring. Drawn in various
positions and different degrees of nudity, the girls bodies are almost
boy-like. No bounding breasts or curvy hips, just young females.
The fact
that the artist draws these images on random bits of paper makes it seem
as if he doesn't take his art seriously. If he really were serious about
his art, wouldn't he draw on some type of expensive canvas? Why not at
least draw on something that can be preserved? These are the conclusions
the artist wants you to come to. I think he hopes that by drawing on these
random bits of paper that perhaps the world won't see his desire for young
girls as anything serious. His meager attempt has failed, at least with
this viewer. I find it offensive that he thinks people are blind enough
to view his pornographic doodles as works of art. I normally don't have
any problems with nudity in art; howeve,r this particular exhibit was
not art in the least.
Another disturbing
part of this exhibit were the random body parts drawn on some of these
receipts: aleg here, a floating head there, with nothing else surrounding
them. These disjointed, objectified images were oddly placed amid the
rest of the pieces. There didn't seem to be any purpose or order to them
or any reason to even have them. With no backgrounds or other doodles
they seem like unfinished pieces. The entire piece simply left me feeling
oddly uncomfortable.
Generally
nudity in art does not bother me. I own many pieces of art that others
may find offensive due to the sexual content. It was the theme of the
nudity that was disturbing. The fact that these images were of young girls
proudly exposing their little bodies disturbed me. The artist has an obvious
interest in young girls and while he seems to want to mask it, he is somehow
driven to show his works to the world.
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