Intro
Hiroki Otsuka: From Manga to Ero-Pop
Japanese artist Hiroki Otsuka is undergoing an exciting shift in his career, and looking at his recent output, he is doing so with great ease and acumen. A comic book illustrator for the past thirteen years with a strong penchant for the erotic storylines of pornographic manga aimed at straight Japanese men, Otsuka has shifted gears and is now producing deeply disturbing paintings based on the unstable nature of sexuality in contemporary Japan.
In these mostly monochrome works, Otsuka renders sexually charged teenage girls in a variety of helpless
poses, hermaphroditic baby doll monsters and nymphs, strong squared-off katakana characters painted directly onto the gallery wall blasting forth onomatopoeiac sex sounds, and a litany of anxious men in various stages of sexual release. The works are made with the traditional Japanese sumi ink used in calligraphy, and their jet black figures stand out against white ground as if to say, "Look at me. Know me. Help me. Now turn away." It is indeed with a certain amount of embarrassment and discomfort that these works delve into our own experiences of the carnal; whether straight, gay, trans-gendered or otherwise, these works speak to the diversity of sexuality just as much as they portray unspeakable acts or hidden fantasies.
Otsuka honed his crafts over a decade of drafting and inking comic book cells for a variety of publications he authored under the pen name Pirontan, and began illustrating for a number of major Japanese publications in 2004, including the gay-themed magazine Badi and the straight-leaning manga series Erotics, Rabumani and Hi-5. While working on these projects, he began to think about the possibility of shifting his focus from the graphic to the fine arts, and with the same set of hentai (pervert) tendencies with which he creates his
comics, he set about a series of paintings that seemingly exposes the dark corners of human sexuality.
Written by Eric C. Shiner.
Eric C. Shiner is an independent curator and art historian specializing in Japanese contemporary art. He holds two master's degrees in art history, from Yale University and from Osaka University. His scholarly focus is on the concept of bodily transformation in postwar Japanese photography, painting, and performance art. He is currently Milton Fine Curator of Art at the Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. He served as an adjunct professor of East Asian Contemporary Art at Cooper Union, Stony Brook and Pace Universities, and was assistant curator of Yokohama Triennale 2001. Mr. Shiner has served as a guest curator for numerous exhibitions in New York including Making a Home: Japanese Artists in New York at Japan Society. He is an active writer and translator, and is a contributing editor for ArtAsiaPacific.
Artist Statement
I'm interested in the ability of images to convey emotions and abstract concepts. I've been creating drawing, painting, silkscreen and even Manga (Comics) whose underlying theme is entertaining
people and conveying something of the essence of living freely, easily and vividly through my works.
I use personal experiences, or experiences and stories passed on from my friends to inspire my work. Whenever I hear these, I let my imagination run wild. I remix these into stories and create my own original story in my mind. Through drawing Manga, which is more like storytelling of my world of imagination to readers, I'd like open up doors for them to share my imaginative world and also stimulate the experiences that I had. It's also extremely important that through my artwork I encourage audiences to 'be free' and encourage them to be an individual, to be who they want to be, to "live courageously and free".
I grew up reading Manga like all youngsters in Japan, although I was obsessed with reading them and submerging myself in the realm of imagination. Ever since then, I have devoted a great deal of time studying how to draw Manga from reading how-to books and numerous Japanese comics. I finally became a "Manga-ka" (cartoonist) by debuting as an "Ero-Manga-ka" (pornographic comic artist).
I always draw the pictures on a sketchbook just using a black pen, which is a basic Manga technique. As simple as this sounds, I believe that so much information can be conveyed with just one line. The spontaneity of lines is my identity. It shows how I have been inspired and mirrors my state of mind and energy flow. It's all about me. Lines are the most significant aspect of my works, even more important than what I draw. The slightest change in lines can create a totally different meaning when you examine them closely.
Currently, I am attempting to draw more freely than I ever have, experimenting with new styles and using different equipment such as using computers, playing multicolor and graphic patterns or drawing on canvas with a pencil. In addition, I'm trying to create art works without sticking to former way of drawing rules, manuals or styles I learnt through Manga.
I get the most pleasure and feel most alive when I am drawing. It makes my pulse race and gives me such inspiration that I will always continue to explore my imaginative world and put them into works.
CV
Education
1994 Tokyo Designer Gakuin, Aichi, Japan. Certificate of Graphic Design, Layout design, drawing, and painting.
1992 Nagahama High School of Business, Shiga, Japan Concentration in Textile business studies
Professional Experience
2007 REAL fashion magazine, column writer
2006 REAL fashion magazine, column writer
2005 AB/OVO catalog, contributing artist
2004-05 Writer / Illustrator (comic pages), Hi-5 Magazine, Badi Magazine, Rabumani Magazine, Erotics Magazine, Yarouze!! Magazine, Tokyo pop, written by Morisane Sunny Shiroyama and Naomi Banno (April 2004)
2003-04 Studio Technician (Internship), KaiKai Kiki / Takashi Murakami Art Studio, Brooklyn, NY
1994-2005 Hiroki Otsuka Productions, Tokyo, Japan
Illustrator of ten original comics
2009 S-magazine, illustrations
2006 "Boys of Summer Vol. 1" Chuck Austen / Hiroki Otsuka - Published by Tokyo Pop, USA
2005 "The Girls Diary," Adult-themed comic published by Heiwa shyppan. 9,000 copies.
2004 "Last Pirontan," Adult-themed comic published by Heiwa shyppan. 15,000 copies.
2002 "Hoshu Jugyo" A Supplementary Lesson, published by T.I.Net Inc. 20,000 copies.
2002 "Shucho Boy Igari-kun"A Hustler Igari-kun adult-themed comic published by Wani-MagazineInc. 10,000 copies.
2001 "Pirontan 21" Adult-themed comic published by Wani-Magazine Inc. 13,000 copies.
2000 "Nampa de Go!" Let's pick boys up! Comic targeted towards teen-age girls published by Takarajima Inc. 15,000 copies.
2000 "I Love Shock!" Comic targeted towards teen-age girls published by Takarajima Inc. 15,000 copies.
Selected Museum Exhibitions
2007 "Making a Home" Japan Society, Manhattan, NY
2007 "Nothing Moments" Moca museum, LA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009 Everything to More, Murals & Drawings, Kunstraum Richard Sorge, Berlin
2008 "My Childhood Story", Excy Laser Tokyo¬, New York, NY
2005 JAPORN "Celebrating Japanese pornographic comics", STUDIO CONNECT, Brooklyn, NY
2005 "HIROKI OTSUKA", Stay Gold Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2009 "Making faces: Depiction of women in Japan from Edo to Today" Pittsburgh University Art Gallery, curated by Eric Shiner, the Milton Fine Curator of Art at the Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
2008 "Talent Preview '09" White Box, NY
2007 Featured by MEM gallery at Asian Contemporary Art Fair, NY
2007 "YADOYA" Yadoya Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2006 "The Outsider" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 "Fruitcake & Casserole" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 "Pleasure Little Treasure" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 Featured by Fredericks Freiser Gallery at Volta art fair in Basel, Switzerland
2006 Featured by Fredericks Freiser Gallery at the Armory Show, NY
2006 MOLESKINE group show, Keibunsha, Kyoto
2006 "AB OVO" Arena 1, Santa Monica
2005 "Keep a breast" Macbeth event, Stay Gold Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2005 MOLESKINE group show, Kinokuniya, Roppongi,Tokyo
2005 "8" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2005 "Viva! Stay gold" Stay gold gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2005 AB/OVO, Yerba Buena Arts Center, San Francisco, CA
2004 Parakeet Salon #2, Parakeet Project Space, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Exhibit.001, OLS&CO Gallery, London, UK
Bibliography
Making a Home: Japanese Contemporary Artists in New York
, Japan Society Series, Yale University Press, New Haven, New England, 2007.
Artist Website
www.hirokiotsuka.com
News
Hiroki Otsuka acts as Mangaka-in-Residence at Japan Society NYC
New York's Japan Society has engaged internationally acclaimed visual artist and professional illustrator Hiroki Otsuka as mangaka (comic book illustrator) artist-in-residence during its spring exhibition Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters: Japanese prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the Arthur R. Miller Collection (March 12-June 13, 2010).
Taking the mass-produced color woodblock prints of late period Ukiyo-e master and forerunner of Manga Utagawa Kuniyoshi as his vantage point, Otsuka will create an original full-length manga (Japanese style comic book), often working onsite visible to visitors.
In addition, Otsuka lends his talents to an array of related activities, including illustration workshops for the general public and New York City high school students, devising and judging an international manga competition, blogging about his work and experience at Japan Society, and creating original Kuniyoshi-inspired artwork to be made available to the public.
Otsuka's yet-to-be titled original manga, which begins production on the opening of Graphic Heroes Magic Monsters, centers on a teenager who comes to Japan Society's exhibition as part of a school group. The student literally gets drawn into the artwork as a Kuniyoshi-inspired warrior and is called on to save New York City from the multitude of monsters marauding throughout Kuniyoshi's prints. A new episode of Otsuka's manga will be made available weekly online. Visitors to Japan Society Gallery will have the opportunity to observe Otsuka working onsite on Friday evenings 5-9, and Saturdays and Sundays 11 am-5 pm.
View the extensive image gallery of Utagawa Kuniyoshi's color woodblock prints at the Japan Society's web site.
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Kunstraum Richard Sorge, Landsberger Allee 54, Old Brewery, 10249 Berlin-Friedrichshain
Email: richard.sorge (at) nym.hush (dot) com
Homepage: http://www.kunstraumrichardsorge.org