Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei: Funny Japanese Art!

14 Nov 2007 Category: Events & Exhibitions, Japan

Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei: Funny Japanese Art!

Ha, funny! The “Noh Mask Dog” by art unit Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei, shown at Detail store during this year’s DesignTide. In the early 90s, there was a Japanese urban legend about a dog with a human face. To make it even more Japanesey, they spiced it up with a Noh theater mask.

We know, there was so much memorable stuff at this year’s DesignTide! That is why we pick up one by one and present it to you, beloved reader, in detail: For today, PingMag starts with art unit Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei and their exhibition at the Harajuku design store Detail. This productive group consists of Shane Kagotani (based in Osaka) and Katsuhito Fujiwara (living in Tokyo), both graduates of the Kyoto City University’s sculpture department. Together they inject a ton of Japanese humour into the stuffy world of contemporary art - much to our delight! Enjoy!

Written by Chiemi
Translated by Kevin Mcgue

To start, what does Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei do?

Contemporary art projects a pretty highfalutin, aren’t they? But just as there are fine chocolates and cheap candies, we thought that within this art field there should be something called “cheap art.” We hope to create fun works that people can view without pretence.

A traditional Japanese daruma couldn’t endure the hard training and has become a bad boy: It turned into Elvis including pompadour! By Shane Kagotani, shown at Detail shop.

The name of your collective, “Gendaibijutsu Nitouhei,” translates into English as “Contemporary Art, Second Class.” Is the “second class” title related to your concept of “cheap art” then?

After we graduated, we said to ourselves “If we ever show some works in a exhibition, we can call ourselves artists” - and we started to collaborate. However, people thought we were not taking art seriously and were criticising us or they didn’t think we would do art at all. We felt that if we were soldiers we wouldn’t be officers, but just second-class soldiers. That’s how we came up with our name.

Leaping lizards as higher forces! “The One Who Comes Down When an Alligator Dies” by Katsuhito Fujiwara. A piece born from the simple question, “If angels come down to take away people who die, who comes down for alligators?”

Let’s get to your works, please: Your blend of a traditional Japanese Kokeshi doll with dumbbells has made it into a retail product. How did you come up with that idea?

Traditional doll or essential piece of exercise equipment? Both! Fun! By Shane Kagotani, from around 2000.

It was just an idea, really. Several years ago, we were asked to make the window display for an underground food court with the theme of “21st century.”

…surely a broad theme…

Certainly! (Laughs) I asked myself “What would a 21st-century product be like?” For example, mobile phones are becoming more and more like computers and gadgets have just so many functions. But I think the concept of “the more value is added to products, the better” has gone way too far. If you take something mediocre and combine it with something else mediocre, it doesn’t become better, it even gets grotesque. So, when I saw some iron dumbbells in a book, it struck me that it would be interesting if it had an ornamental face or something completely unrelated on it. It was a silly idea to throw together two completely unrelated things. (Laughs)

You actually do have a concept, more than I thought…! More examples, please…

Katsuhito created a work called “Virtual Swimming:” It is the upper half of a head with a swimming cap that is moved by remote control. If you let it scoot around, it makes any floor look like the surface of a swimming pool, giving people a virtual experience of walking on water.

”Virtual Swimming” by Katsuhito Fujiwara - a remote controlled swimming cap and head. What? How fun!

Wonderful!

When Katsuhito went to New York, he took it along with him and ran it around the sidewalks. There were the New Yorkers, completely enthralled while pretending not to care enough to look. (Laughs)

Awesome! Since some of your works are based on a very Japanese sense of humour, they could be hard to grasp for people overseas. What do you think?

We also have some pieces that can only be understood by people of our generation! For example, our “Koshien Boiling Water:” A while back, the Perfect Liberty High School (P.L.) in Japan used to have a really strong baseball team. Once they staged a huge mass game at the Koshien Stadium to show off. However, recently they haven’t appeared at Koshien as their team is no longer any good. This gave me the idea for the “Koshien Boiling Water.” You’d have to know that to get the meaning obviously.

“Koshien Boiling Water” by Shane Kagotani: The once-great PL High School athletics program is now in hot water. Japanese irony!

More ironic subtleties! “Yotchan Iruka” by Shane Kagotani parodies the Yotchan brand of bright red dried squid, Japanese “ika,” snacks. Don’t worry, those are not real dolphins.

This J-Horror teddy mixes the ancient legend of Hoichi the Earless with a cuddly teddy bear. Modernised version!

So, ideas like these just pop into your head?

Yes, when I am watching TV or looking at someone else’s work, or when I am really trying to apply myself to my work. Other times, I first come up with a title that I really want to use, and then think of what kind of work I could make to fit that.

Ha ha! “Jamiro qu-wa-i,” another work by Katsuhito Fujiwara. This one is a wordplay on “kuwai,” which means “arrowhead” in Japanese.

What are influences for you?

Katsuhito really loves TV and records - more than he can actually watch. He loves Japanese comedy such as Downtown. Recently, I have really been into the late lyricist Yuu Aku. He wrote songs for Pink Lady and Naomi Chiaki. Practically all of my favourite karaoke songs are written by him. He wrote so many great songs in different genres.


Their book “Cheap Art Gallery” is available from November 29th and published by Magazine House.

Finally, any plans for the future?

Years ago, there was a program about art on Japanese TV on Sundays. We used to say that we are going to break up when we would be on that show, but now I just want to maintain the level of tension I have now about my work and create new things. I would also like to exhibit more around Japan.

Many thanks to Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei for sharing their fun “cheap art” with us today!

58 Comments

  1. vava voom choice ass

    Posted by: Anonymous on November 14th, 2007 at 8:07 pm

  2. Gotta dig that leaping lizard!!!

    OH! And that Jamiro qu-wa-i is priceless!!!! :)

    Posted by: Nuno on November 15th, 2007 at 3:14 am

  3. I love the remote controlled head lol

    Posted by: Akai on November 15th, 2007 at 5:04 am

  4. “New Yorkers, completely enthralled while pretending not to care enough to look”

    LOL!

    I’ve never been there, but I’ve gotten the impression that they’re like that (it’s what makes us in Los Angeles so different… people here are just begging to be stared at!)

    Posted by: Kristine on November 15th, 2007 at 10:53 am

  5. wow!! pingmag 4ever…

    Posted by: o!o on November 15th, 2007 at 7:03 pm

  6. “Second-class art” is much more fascinating than the highbrow stuff, anyway. More approacheable!

    Posted by: Stephanie on November 24th, 2007 at 11:34 pm

  7. [...] We know, there was so much memorable stuff at this year’s DesignTide! That is why we pick up one by one and present it to you, beloved reader, in detail: For today, PingMag starts with art unit Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei and their exhibition at the Harajuku design store Detail. This productive group consists of Shane Kagotani (based in Osaka) and Katsuhito Fujiwara (living in Tokyo), both graduates of the Kyoto City University’s sculpture department. Together they inject a ton of Japanese humour into the stuffy world of contemporary art - much to our delight! Enjoy! Read the full story>>> [...]

    Posted by: Kevin Mcgue - Tokyo-Based Journalist & Filmmaker » Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei: Funny Japanese Art! on March 3rd, 2009 at 11:57 pm

  8. [...] Read the English version at PingMag» [...]

    Posted by: Kevin Mcgue | “Gendaibijitsu Nitouhei: Funny Japanese Art!” Translation on April 19th, 2010 at 11:03 am

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