Chiho Aoshima

Japanese artist Chihi Aoshima is prolific in the art world, dealing with technology, social media, animation, and kitsch.  The idea of kitsch in Aoshima's art speaks to the consumerist notions plaguing Japanese society, not only that, but the globalizing world.  The reason her artwork is important to media is that it addresses what we value as well as how we value things.  Do we simply value something because the media we're surrounded by tells us we should value it?

Aoshima's digital artwork is deeply rooted in the Japanese animation tradition that came from woodblock printing in the 17th and 18th centuries.  What is fascinating is seeing the progression of Japanese printing.  Being able to look at a historical perspective of Japanese printing can help us draw parallels to our own western printing tradition.  We see that printing comes out of a consumer culture and now that technology has progressed Japanese culture very far the amount of images and ideas is nearly infinite.

Her images are bright in color and very appealing to the eye, but there's a dark side to her work that make the viewer understand the tone to which she's talking about popular images.

Below are some examples of early Japanese woodblock prints.