Without a doubt, the first thing visitors will notice upon walking into the Tufts University Art Gallery's new exhibition is a group of five prominent sculptures with bright, synthetic fur and heart-shaped faces made of vinyl.
Arranged in a ring in the center of the room, the creatures playfully introduce visitors to the exhibition "Sacred Monsters: Everyday Animism in Japanese Culture," which features a wide selection of work from eight contemporary Japanese artists. The artists work in mediums ranging from synthetic fur and plastic (i.e., the creatures mentioned above) to the more traditional medium of oil painting. Japanese animated films selected by Susan Napier, a professor in the Japanese Program, complement the pieces.
Taken all together, "Sacred Monsters" effectively teases out the themes prevalent in contemporary Japanese art through the varied microscopes of multimedia. At the heart of the show's thematic interest is the concept of animism — the ancient belief that all things are alive and animated by divine spirits — in the context of modern Japanese culture.
Animism finds its roots in the Shinto religion, which holds beliefs in "kami," spirits or natural forces, and "yokai," monsters with human-like personalities. The furry creatures at the entrance of the gallery are part of a larger piece called "Noah's Ark," which references a character in the Japanese film "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988). In the movie, two girls become friends with a huge forest spirit named Totoro. It also includes characters in the well-known Western children's novel "Where the Wild Things Are," by Maurice Sendak. In doing so, the work represents a modern reincarnation of the ancient "kami" and "yokai."
Chiho Aoshima's piece titled "The Sun Goddess Amaterasu and the Ninigi Legend" directly references ancient Shinto beliefs by depicting the legend of Amaterasu, who is the source of all light in the universe. Amaterasu rises from the top of Mt. Fuji with her hair flowing all around her. The entire piece is full of ethereal, pastel colors, befitting of a universal light source and in a style of an anime still.
Aoshima's technique is modern in the materials it incorporates as well as its style. The image of the Shinto goddess is made up of a combination of digital prints, aluminum and Plexiglas, resulting in an artful combination of ancient concepts and modern techniques. However, the fact that the image itself appears as only a still in an unfinished film suggests an unresolved question about the place of ancient characters such as Amaterasu in modern-day Japan.
Oscar Oiwa tackles this connection between animism and contemporary culture in a different way. In his oil painting "Mountain," the massive frame is filled with the remains of wasteful humanity, but there are no humans in sight. The tops of the piles of trash mingled with dilapidated homes form a shape similar to a mountain range surrounded by misty fog, and at the bottom left of the image, a tractor appears about to dump more trash onto the huge piles.
There are no direct references to "kami" or "yokai," but the mystical mountain range formed by human waste implies that human beings are crushing the earth's spirit. In the absence of human forms and other animate objects, the earth itself takes on anthropomorphic characteristics that are just as powerful as more evident animism. Instead of referencing or questioning the presence of ancient spirits in contemporary culture, Oiwa uses these animistic qualities to question humanity's ecologically harmful actions towards a living earth.
Animism has transitioned from a religious belief to an element of mass culture, adapting to its new role in Japanese culture. It is this adaptation that has allowed for its continuing relevance in modern society. The opening for "Sacred Monsters" will take place onThursday, Sept. 17, from 5:30- 8:00 p.m.
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Sacred Monsters: Everyday Animism in Contemporary Japanese Art and Anime
At the Tisch Gallery, through Nov. 22
Tufts University Art Gallery
Aidekman Arts Center
617-627-3518
