:shinganist:

Introduction / Artists / Show Schedule / Book / Other Products / Blog / Contact

::SHINGANIST: Curated by Usugrow

USUGROW, MOZYSKEY, TOSHIKAZU NOZAKA, BENE and JUN KANEKO. Although the history that came from America and Europe is still new, they were born and raised in Japan, and they met and got inspired by creative imported culture (music including punk rock, hip-hop, and other club music, skateboard, graffiti and tattoo, but note that tattoo is a special case since there has been an original tattoo culture in Japan, and also outfit including those factors) when they were teenager, then they got clear creative chance to express by relating it, and they became wholly devoted to not only artwork but also its action and philosophy behind. (Not that all the artists are influenced by things mentioned above) Although their arts are often summed up roughly with the words 'street art,' there is a nature extracted from each influences and a basic nature that they've looked back deeply at in everyday life in Japan as Japanese. When these natures got blended together, their artworks get simply realized as art and not necessary to be categorized anymore. Just because you create something based on Japan as subject, it doesn't make an artwork Japanese. What is important is that the feeling and the process behind the artwork, and they surely reflect to artwork. Therefore, the nature of Japanese appears strongly in medium and process of expression than subject matter. Since Internet has popularized, traveling overseas isn't hard anymore, various races have been mingling and the world is becoming borderless in our consciousness now, any reference to national identity might have been already reduced. However, there are definitely new expressions generated by this generation. This show is for many people who love art, and will be held in San Francisco, London and Tokyo along with the release of the new art book featuring these five artists.

Text by Blackdot (Shingan Art Publishing, Inc.) & Usugrow
Transrated by Reddot (Shingan Art Publishing, Inc.)

薄黒、文字図形、野坂稔和、べん、金子潤。日本で生まれ育った彼らは、欧米から伝わった歴史は浅いが創造的な輸入文化（パンクロック、ヒップホップ、クラブミュージック、スケートボード、グラフィティ）に、１０代で触れ、駆り立てられ、それらに携わり表現するという明確な創作のきっかけを得た。同時に作品だけで無く、その行為や、裏側にある哲学にもより深く傾倒していった。（それぞれの作家が今あげたすべてに影響を受けたというわけではないが）ストリートアートと乱雑にくくられてしまいがちな彼らのアートであるが、それぞれの影響から抽出した本質と、それぞれの海外での活動と、日本での生活の中で、より深く見つめ直した根底にある日本人としての本質。それらが融合した今、彼らの作品は、シンプルにアートとして成立し、特定のカテゴライズなどは不要なものとなった。作品の素材として日本を題材にすれば日本的、である訳はない。大事なのはその作品の裏側にある意識や過程であり、それらが作品の確かな裏付けとなる。題材よりもそれを現す手段、過程にこそ日本的な本質はより濃く現れる。インターネットが普及し、海外への渡航が容易になり、人種が混ざり合い、意識上の国境がなくなりつつある今、国民性云々への言及はすでに淘汰されているかも知れない。しかし確実に、日本では新しい表現がこの世代から生まれている。このアートブックの出版と同時に、同作家達によるグループショウが、サンフランシスコ、ロンドン、東京で開催される。

解説 / 黒点(心眼美術出版) 薄黒