The first reading "Tokyo 1955 – 1970" provides an exciting new perspective on Japanese contemporary art and the most important moments in history related to international exchange. Author described period in the 1960s and 70s, when Japanese artists and artists groups focused on interdisciplinary experiments, avant-garde radical performances and international collaborations.
Due economic growth and large changes of the structure of the society, art scene offered wide variety of choices for artists. Japanese artists were inspired by different disciplines and created remarkable artworks using new forms of expression. It is clear from the reading that art was divided in several directions: music, literature, film, performances and paintings. The influence of the international artists raised general interest to new ideas, illusions and dreams. Art implied new kind of visual representation full of adventure and ambitious attitude. It was a goal for any artist to create a dynamic, extraordinary statement art piece with a personal, unique stamp on it. What I found interesting in postwar Japan was the issue of imitation. Former member of the Neo Dada movement Shinohara Ushio presented a new approach of creating the artwork by imitating other artists. He declared that concept behind the art work is much more important than the visual content. By creating multiple copies of works by the famous American artist he pointed importance of strategy and understanding the idea behind the art work.
He was the first one who raised the questions about originality, similarity and possibilities of the same ideas coming from 2 different artists. He discusses effectiveness of imitation process, thinking that it could be an original way how to develop artistic skills and get more information. He encouraged other Japanese artists to accept the imitation as a learning process and as a collaboration and reexamination of the first idea artist. His research have demonstrated that existence of multiplicity could be beneficial for society.
Within the term ” imitation” I am thinking about nowadays “Lolita trend “ in Japan as a human action and identity signal. Lolita is a term used for various groups of young women, usually referring to overly childish or rebellious girls. Trend reminds me the philosophy of Shinohara Ushio (very extreme and radical) This is their attempt at individuality, self-expression, and freedom. Researchers in the field of Japanese studies believe that lolita is a form of fight against traditional Japanese society. By looking over Lolita fashion you can see that it gets affected from a variety of eras and international cultures. The most easily recognizable