My paintings are mostly executed in a style, concept or movement called Superstroke. Superstroke as an idea or movement was conceived by me as a reaction to the impact that Superflat has on contemporary art today. Superflat is one of the few art movements started in the last decade, which is taking contemporary art forward. To understand Superstroke, the viewer must firstly be familiar with Picasso and Braque (Cubism, Picasso Style), Miro (Surrealism, DADA), Matisse (Fauvism), Dubuffet (Art Brut), Appel (Cobra), Basquiat (Graffiti, Neo-Expressionism) and then Superflat, the art movement conceived by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
If it was not for the word Superflat, I would not have been able to think of the word Superstroke to describe my art.
The main difference between Superflat and Superstroke is in texture and subject matter. Superstroke paintings rely on heavy expressive, sometimes even violent brushstrokes, where in Superflat the paintings are smooth and flat. Superflat deals mainly with art in the Japanese context, and in Superstroke the subject matter is not that important as long as the painting appears to have a heavily textured surface after execution.
The Manifesto I wrote for Superstroke is as follows:
1. Paintings should be executed using expressive even violent brushstrokes on at least some part of the picture.
2. Should a photograph be used for a figurative painting, the objection should not be Photorealism, but Expressionism.
3. If mediums such as pen, pencil, etc are used, the pen and pencil strokes must at least be overly expressive for it to be considered a Superstroke picture.
4. Paintings can be executed in both the abstract and figurative.
5. Subject matters such as Africa, light, dark, life and death are encouraged.
6. Collage, Stencil and Calligraphy may be used for impact.
7. The concept, Art for the sake of art, does not apply in Superstroke. In Superstroke it is art for the sake of Superstroke, as the artist must always strive for paintings rich in texture, or excessive brush or pencil strokes.
For those unfamiliar with Superflat, the Manifesto for Superflat, written by Takashi Murakami is as follows,
“The world of the future might be like Japan is today -super flat. Society, customs, art, culture: all are extremely two-dimensional. It is particularly apparent in the arts that this sensibility has been flowing steadily beneath the surface of Japanese history. Today, the sensibility is most present in Japanese games and anime, which have become powerful parts of world culture. One way to imagine super flatness is to think of the moment when, in creating a desktop graphic for your computer, you merge a number of distinct layers into one. Though it is not a terribly clear example, the feeling I get is a sense of reality that is very nearly a physical sensation. The reason that I have lined up both the high and the low of Japanese art in this book is to convey this feeling. I would like you, the reader, to experience the moment when the layers of Japanese culture, such as pop, erotic pop, otaku, and H.I.S.ism,fuse into one. [H.I.S. is a discount ticket agency in Japan. By lowering the price of travel abroad, the company is having a profound effect on the relationship between Japan and the West.]”
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General background to my art
ReplyDeleteMy paintings are mostly executed in a style, concept or movement called Superstroke. Superstroke as an idea or movement was conceived by me as a reaction to the impact that Superflat has on contemporary art today. Superflat is one of the few art movements started in the last decade, which is taking contemporary art forward. To understand Superstroke, the viewer must firstly be familiar with Picasso and Braque (Cubism, Picasso Style), Miro (Surrealism, DADA), Matisse (Fauvism), Dubuffet (Art Brut), Appel (Cobra), Basquiat (Graffiti, Neo-Expressionism) and then Superflat, the art movement conceived by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
If it was not for the word Superflat, I would not have been able to think of the word Superstroke to describe my art.
The main difference between Superflat and Superstroke is in texture and subject matter. Superstroke paintings rely on heavy expressive, sometimes even violent brushstrokes, where in Superflat the paintings are smooth and flat. Superflat deals mainly with art in the Japanese context, and in Superstroke the subject matter is not that important as long as the painting appears to have a heavily textured surface after execution.
The Manifesto I wrote for Superstroke is as follows:
1. Paintings should be executed using expressive even violent brushstrokes on at least some part of the picture.
2. Should a photograph be used for a figurative painting, the objection should not be Photorealism, but Expressionism.
3. If mediums such as pen, pencil, etc are used, the pen and pencil strokes must at least be overly expressive for it to be considered a Superstroke picture.
4. Paintings can be executed in both the abstract and figurative.
5. Subject matters such as Africa, light, dark, life and death are encouraged.
6. Collage, Stencil and Calligraphy may be used for impact.
7. The concept, Art for the sake of art, does not apply in Superstroke. In Superstroke it is art for the sake of Superstroke, as the artist must always strive for paintings rich in texture, or excessive brush or pencil strokes.
For those unfamiliar with Superflat, the Manifesto for Superflat, written by Takashi Murakami is as follows,
“The world of the future might be like Japan is today -super flat. Society, customs, art, culture: all are extremely two-dimensional. It is particularly apparent in the arts that this sensibility has been flowing steadily beneath the surface of Japanese history.
Today, the sensibility is most present in Japanese games and anime, which have become powerful parts of world culture. One way to imagine super flatness is to think of the moment when, in creating a desktop graphic for your computer, you merge a number of distinct layers into one. Though it is not a terribly clear example, the feeling I get is a sense of reality that is very nearly a physical sensation. The reason that I have lined up both the high and the low of Japanese art in this book is to convey this feeling. I would like you, the reader, to experience the moment when the layers of Japanese culture, such as pop, erotic pop, otaku, and H.I.S.ism,fuse into one. [H.I.S. is a discount ticket agency in Japan. By lowering the price of travel abroad, the company is having a profound effect on the relationship between Japan and the West.]”