
* All images used with permission from artist. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
About Tomokazu:
Tomokazu Matsuyama’s work is similarly influenced by both the austerity of post-war contemporary art and the rough extravagancy of popular culture. Perhaps the most intriguing and insightful in terms of cultural study, his work is a more conscious and introspective response to the tensions of bicultural experience. An upbringing split between Japan and America spurred the questions of national and individual identity that figure prominently in the style and subject matter of his paintings ‘ attempting to parse the ‘natural chaosâ? of our social environment, Matsuyama pushes viewers to confront their conceptions of cultural homogeneity, which seems to contradict notions of Japaneseness. Discerningly appropriating influences from modern art and Japanese art from the Edo and Meiji eras, Matsuyama’s paintings are an aesthetically exciting and culturally fascinating facet, which portrays the lifestyle of this time.
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(3.38 - 55 votes)
The top one is like if the 80s was as depressing as the 90′s
I’m still trying parse the â??natural chaosâ? of our social environment on the bottom one.
Comment by Joan of Art — September 22, 2009
I LOVE THE 2ND 1! Plus i <3 horses thuo! :) good work
Cat
Comment by Cat — September 22, 2009
I REALLY THINK YOU HAVE A POTENTIAL FOR ART
Comment by andrew garton — September 22, 2009
A Japanese wood block print, his left arm a phallic symbol, and just what is the little man doing with his butt facing us?
And the lower image, Hi Oh Silver Away. At least the horse is silver, ridden by a caricature of the old west. Lost our way, our national identity have we? but the artist says it’s natural chaos. Same difference.
Comment by Jim Gibbons — September 22, 2009
This is really cool!
Comment by Tessa — September 22, 2009
I really enjoy the patterning in these works. Visually pleasing.
Comment by Casey Shannon — September 22, 2009