Somehow I Don't Feel Comfortable by Momoyo Torimitsu

DOB in the Strange Forest
by Takashi Murakami

Cocktail Party
by Charlie White

by Katherine Inglis



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Check your own sense of reality at the door when you visit the Tampa Museum of Art's latest exhibit entitled "My Reality: Contemporary Art and the Culture of Japanese Animation." This exhibit ranges from paintings, sculptures, and video games, as well as animated features, and is a good example of reality catching up with science fiction. The popularity of Japanese animation (sometimes referred to as "anime") has literally spread worldwide in the last twenty years. This exhibit explores various affects this type of pop culture has had upon numerous forms of art in Japan as well as other countries. Although three prominent pieces are part of the same exhibit, the pink bunnies called "Somehow I Don't Feel Comfortable" (by Momoyo Torimitsu), the painting entitled "Cocktail Party" (by Charlie White), and the landscape installation called "DOB in the Strange Forest" (by Takashi Murakami) could not be more different in terms of the meaning they each seems to convey.

Certainly the largest work of art in this exhibit, the "Somehow I Don't Feel Comfortable" pink bunnies exude a feeling of "kawaii" (Japanese for "cuteness") which is an important quality the artist uses in her work. This cuteness becomes overwhelmed by the sheer size of these two bunnies as they peer down upon you. Their size is exaggerated by a ceiling that is not quite tall enough, forcing them to bend over in such a way where they might gulp you up in one bite if they so desire. Upon this realization, suddenly they seem not so cute, but instead a bit threatening. This interesting contradiction spurs a sense of uneasiness which is inescapable. Subtle as it is, one might experience mixed feelings for this artwork without really knowing why.

Unlike the "Somehow I Don't Feel Comfortable" pink bunnies, the "Cocktail Party" picture conveys a different kind of message. Upon initially studying this piece of art, one observes a normal scene depicting a group of people in a social gathering. This is a common, ordinary setting until one realizes there is an alien being included in this gathering! All of a sudden the picture takes on a totally different meaning. What once seemed normal now evokes a futuristic and sci-fi message. The people in this picture do not seem the least bit fazed to be in the company of an alien. Even more interesting is the fact that the alien being appears to be relatively at ease in this environment as well.

"DOB in the Strange Forest" is another work of art with a futuristic quality. The difference in this piece, compared to the others, is that it combines a futuristic quality with that of "kawaii." The message that is extracted from this artwork suggests a landscape of mutated mushrooms that have survived in a post-nuclear wasteland. These "kawaii" colors contradict the post-apocalyptic message in a sugarcoated way. One is not sure whether to like them because they are so cuddly and cute, or to be fearful of them because of what their mutated shapes represent. It is obvious that the Japanese culture has been substantially affected by the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

While these three works of art vary in their own unique way, they do come together in their postwar expression of Japanese culture. Japan's influence on art and pop culture has tremendously affected contemporary society. So widespread is this phenomenon that there is a fair representation of artist's work from the eastern and western parts of the world. In this postmodern age of ours it is interesting to view various artists worldwide and how they each individually explore a futuristic environmental theme.