ABSTRACT
Aida Makoto’s art repeatedly touches a raw nerve in uncomfortable aspects of Japanese national culture: anti-American and anti-Asia resentment, failed masculinity, homelessness, misogyny, the trashiness of consumer culture, and countless other aspects of modern urban life not visible in the sleek, high-tech “Cool Japan” with which Japan prefers to brand itself. His oeuvre is a vast and spectacular multi-genre production, spanning painting, installations, video, and performance, with extraordinary technical skill, and a huge influence on younger artists. Together, his works can be seen as raucously funny and sometimes perverse reflection on the dilemmas of the prodigal homegrown artist with little potential for translation outside of the ambivalent historical, political and social reference points that animate his work. A key contrast can be made with the career of Aida’s main rival, Murakami Takashi, better known internationally with his more accessible Superflat art that promotes a more superficial understanding of Japanese popular culture abroad.
