Superflat is a postmodern

Postmodern art

Postmodern art is a term used to describe an art movement which was thought to be in contradiction to some aspect of modernism, or to have emerged or developed in its aftermath...

 art movement

Art movement

An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time, or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined within a number of years...

, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami

is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art...

, which is influenced by manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

and anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

. It is also the name of a 2001 art exhibition, curated by Murakami, that toured West Hollywood, Minneapolis and Seattle.

Description

"Superflat" is used by Murakami to refer to various flattened forms in Japanese graphic art, animation, pop culture and fine arts, as well as the "shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture." A self-proclaimed art movement, it was a successful piece of niche marketing, a branded art phenomenon designed for Western audiences. Superflat has been embraced by American artist creating a hybrid called “SoFlo Superflat

SoFlo Superflat

SoFlo Superflat describes an art genre started in Miami in the 1990s. It is an urban pop art movement in South Florida that combines super bright colors and ultra flat images. The subject matters are very diverse. It is an outcrop of the Japanese Superflat movement, founded by the artist Takashi...

”.

Artists whose work is regarded as “Superflat” include Chiho Aoshima

Chiho Aoshima

is a Japanese pop artist and member of Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki Collective. Aoshima graduated from Department of Economics, Hosei University, Tokyo. She had a residency at Art Pace, San Antonio, Texas in 2006. This young graphic artist began in Murakami’s factory with no formal art training...

, Mahomi Kunikata, Sayuri Michima

Sayuri Michima

Sayuri Michima is a Japanese visual artist who in the beginning of the millennium was associated with the Superflat movement....

, Yoshitomo Nara

Yoshitomo Nara

is a Japanese artist. He currently lives and works in Tokyo, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara received his B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. Between 1988 and 1993, Nara studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in Germany. Nara...

, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, Aya Takano

Aya Takano

Aya Takano was born 1976 in Saitama, Japan. She is a Japanese pop artist associated with the Superflat movement.-Early Life and Influence:...

 and Takashi Murakami. In addition, some animators within anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

and some manga artist

Mangaka

is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...

 are considered Superflat, especially Koji Morimoto

Koji Morimoto

, born December 26, 1959) is an animator and one of Japan’s premier anime directors.- Biography :Born in Wakayama, Japan, he graduated from the Osaka School of Design in 1979 and a couple years later joined the studio Annapuru as an animator for the TV series “Tomorrow's Joe”...

, and the work of Hitoshi Tomizawa

Hitoshi Tomizawa

' is a Japanese manga artist. Alien 9 is his best known work; his manga tend to be short, with sci-fi stories involving children and insects. His art was fairly standard shōnen manga style for his first series, but starting with Alien 9 it became very distinctive, but with very large eyes and...

, author of Alien 9

Alien Nine

is a manga series by Hitoshi Tomizawa, which was later adapted into an anime OVA series by J.C.Staff. The manga was serialized in Akita Shoten's Young Champion magazine, spanning 3-volumes. In 2003, Tomizawa released a 1-volume sequel to the series called Alien 9 Emulators...

and Milk Closet

Milk closet

Milk Closet is a 4 volume manga by Hitoshi Tomizawa. It began in the Afternoon in 2000 and was finished in 2001 with four volumes.-Plot:...

.

Murakami defines Superflat in broad terms, so the subject matter is very diverse. Often the works explore the consumerism and sexual fetishism that is prevalent in post-war Japanese culture. This often includes lolicon

Lolicon

, also romanised as lolikon or rorikon, is a Japanese portmanteau of the phrase "Lolita complex". In Japan, the term describes an attraction to underage girls or an individual with such an attraction...

art, which is parodied by works such as those by Henmaru Machino

Henmaru Machino

Henmaru Machino is a Japanese artist, described as the Magritte of the ero manga world, whose works prominently feature themes of dysmorphic hermaphrodism and body transformation, as well as dozens of other sexual paraphilia...

. These works are an exploration of otaku sexuality through grotesque and/or distorted images. Other works are more concerned with a fear of growing up. For example, Yoshitomo Nara’s work often features playful graffiti on old Japanese ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e

' is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters...

executed in a childish manner. And some works focus on the structure and underlying desires that comprise otaku and overall post-war Japanese culture.

Murakami is influenced by directors such as Hideaki Anno

Hideaki Anno

is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...

.

External links

• Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.—Takashi Murakami’s official site featuring Superflat artists
• Superflat Japanese postmodernity by Hiroki Azuma - on blog.emilkerie.com
• Superflat Japanese Postmodernity — essay by Hiroki Azuma
  Hiroki Azuma
  , born May 9, 1971 in Mitaka, Tokyo is a Japanese cultural critic.-Biography:He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1999 and became a professor at the International University of Japan in 2003...
  
  
• Plumbing the Depths of Superflatness
• Inspired works from Superflat
• Overthinking Superflat