Nara Yoshitomo / After the Acid Rain
When I first looked at
this picture I wondered why this girl does not have legs, but after seeing the
title, I noticed that she was in the acid rain. Acid rain is harmful to the
environment, animal and it damages buildings. Mainly, it is caused by human
activities. In this picture, the girl is soaking in the acid rain. From her
face expression and her pose, she looks like she is being skeptical and afraid.
The background of the drawing is all
purple and blue mixed color and it is so gloomy. In contrast, the girl is drawn
in light colors, especially her skin and her blue eyes. She is wearing simple
clothes colored in orange. Her big eyes give the ‘kawaii’ feeling to the
audience. However, her tightened mouth and the way she gazes far away give the
impression that she is feeling uncomfortable and anxious. Nara did not draw eyebrows
and this makes the girl more mysterious.
Nara mainly draws a
girl in his picture. He explains that this girl is his portrait. When he was a
child, he prefers playing by himself, talking with an animal, and had an
imaginary skill. However, looking from an adult point of view, he was
misunderstood that he was a lonely boy and had no friends. This picture is
expressing how he was seen by the adults.
Chiho Aoshima/ Shrine Mountain 2008
When I first saw this picture, I thought
it is interesting because the title was written right on the top of the
mountain. “神社山” means “Shrine
Mountain”. As some of you notice that “山” (mountain) is emphasized compared to “神社”
In the background, black and navy is
mainly used, but in the bottom, there are red which seems to be the light from
the sun. The upper part of the picture is the space and the middle mountain is
higher than the moon. Mountain is symbol of the God, and the middle mountain is
a shrine mountain, so it is very close to the God. It is interesting because
the three mountains have a face. The little two mountains look like children
and interested in the middle mountain. The highest mountain almost has no
feeling in it and just looking straight towards the audience. It also has many
graves and many spirits that we cannot see. On his top of the head, there is
traditional bell. It looks like a hair accessory.
In this picture, she is drawing shrine,
God, and sprit. However it also gives us a ‘kawaii’ feeling to it. I think this
is because of the mountain’s face. Small mountains look so innocent and the
middle mountain’s eyes are round. It also has sacredness in it.
Kaho!
返信削除Great job on your analysis :) I love how both of your pictures are kawaii, yet gives a gloomy and scary feeling. I also chose one of Nara's image to interpret, and as you mentioned above, Nara utilized little girls to portray his loneliness as a child. The girl in the picture definitely has the Kawaii eyes, but the image as a whole is very mysterious and sad. The second picture is also kawaii, yet gives a very mysterious feeling.
I really like how you said that this pictures expressed "...how he was seen by adults". The colors for the image are very interesting and I do sense some type of loneliness in this image. While I do agree that there is some emotion of fear, I think there must be more than that because I feel like fear would have been exaggerated more. Possibly it is that the girl is hiding her fear?
返信削除It's pretty surprising how the 2nd image takes religion and displays it with a kawaii feeling. It is something that I do not think I have ever seen before and that is why it struck me as surprising.
Wow~ your analysis was so wonderful, Kaho. I especially liked - no, loved! - the last sentence on Nara's After the Acid Rain. It was a twist and unexpected. The first imagine was very interesting. (My first thought was also about her "missing" legs. To me, it seems as though she feels directly responsible for the acid rain, and maybe that's why her mouth is tight.
返信削除Like Neal had stated in his comment, it is very surprising to see something religious like this in a kawaii sense. I have seen chibi religious figures before, but this seems more cute in a sense. Why do you think there is an emphasis on 山?