Working digitally in a vector art program (presumably Illustrator), and outputting her images on a large scale printer, Chiho Aoshima creates wall-size installations, “wallpapers” and environments.
Coming from a background that did not include any formal art training, Aoshima’s images are full of brightly colored, cartoon style landscapes, citiscapes and fantasy environments, populated with cheery-looking anime and manga inspired characters, usually young women, often engaged in vaguely horrific activities.
Aoshima can be associated with the “superflat” movement, popular among young Japanese artists, that emphasizes the two dimensionality and simplified forms that make up their visual vocabulary.
Aoshima’s work can have an interesting juxtaposition of images that at first have the appearance of colorful innocence, and on second glance can be disconcertingly morbid, producing a feeling of pop comics storybook illustrations gone horribly wrong.
I haven’t had a chance to see her work in person, but I get the feeling that scale makes a difference (as it usually does). Her images are often highly detailed and include small elements that may not be visible in reproductions, and are displayed at a size intended to have an immersive quality.
The galleries I list below often include photos of the large scale and wall size works printed and mounted in place, so you can get a idea of their size and presentation, which sometimes includes sculptural objects or printed floors.
Link via Ann Marshall
Great stuff, Chiho’s work reminds me of the stylised animation of Samurai Jack (I hope this is considered a compliment!)
I have loved Chiho’s work ever since I first saw it in Giant Robot magazine. Such an inspiration!
i’ve seen an exibition of hers at the Baltic and yeah, they’re really amazing at the full, intended size.
I saw her artworks in the London Underground last summer. Looked awesome! Very inspiring. Thanks for the post.
Astrid
I saw her work at the Ecstasy show in LA (at the MOCA) a couple of years back and it was mind blowing. She had a full 10 minute animation stretched across 3 widescreen flat panel tv’s. On top of her haunting design, she’s also quite skilled at multiplane layout. She’s one of my favorite artists to introduce to people.
I LOVE HER WORK!! She is sure one of my fav artists.