Monday, July 21, 2008

Influence: Makoto Aida

There's been so much written about the Japanese artist Makoto Aida, that I feel a bit behind the times to say that I've just recently gotten into his work (he's another epic artist that Kristin Dalton pointed me to, she's on a roll). This "Blender" piece above has obvious characteristics that I'm drawn to, the configurations of the figures become a human "stew", whose gruesome and violent result is clearly and horrifically shown as the iconic modern kitchen tool, the blender, does it's work on humanity(specifically female humanity). it's just such a powerful piece on so many levels. It has a nice Rubens quality, a bit of a modern twist of "overthrow of the damned". (one of my favorite pastimes is linking contemporary artists to the classics, just can't resist). Anyway, possibly one of the coolest things about Makoto Aida is that there's not a clear direction to his work.. and it's kind of rad. He's a bit of a "what is he going to do next" type of guy. Here's a great article that explains what I'm talking about more. enjoy.