Shibuya, Youth and the New Japan
This is my new art project:
The name for those under the age of thirty: “shinjinrui” (the new race). This "new race" represents more than just wild clothing and colorful hair. They are challenging the age-old rules of public behavior, and rejecting the ideal of a lifelong job, working six days a week for “the company”.
More than just a youthful rebellion, what really sets this generation apart is their refusal to follow the paths of their parents or accept their society's vision of a happy future.
Not all of this change takes a visual or public form. But in certain places, like the Shibuya neighborhood in Tokyo, you will often encounter public expressions of a generation trying to find its voice and identity.
For people from Western countries who have never understood Japan's group-centric culture, this apparent surge of individualism may seem utterly natural. But for a society that relay heavily on the individual’s cooperative spirit and submission to a group’s mentality, these kids represent a threat. Cultural behaviors usually developed over many hundreds of years and they are slow to change.
For me these kids are not simply brave soldiers in a new culture change, they add color and fun to all of us as a human race. The city / urban environment, can be a grey and lifeless habitat without them. Their individuality, expressed through their elaborate attention to details in assembling their clothing, hair and accessories, is a constant reminder of the human spirit’s need to be playful and fun-filled.
Life is not lived in general summation or in retrospective reflection on the past. It is a conglomerate mass of moments and choices lived day by day.
As an artist I find the elaborate outfits that these kids put together, enormously inspiring. Trying to recreate them in my studio is meditative and challenging.
I chose to paint this series on traditional Japanese/ Chinese scrolls with watercolors, ink, bamboo brushes and pen. By my choice of medium, I am making a statement about the traditional versus the new, and the beauty inherent in both.
