Drop Dead Cute

by Ivan Vartanian

Drop Dead Cute showcases the work of 10 cutting-edge female Japanese artists whose art combines the pop charge of Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara with a thrilling personal mixture of sweetness and power. This next wave of painters and illustrators from the red-hot Japanese art scene blend aspects of manga, anime, and traditional art with their own idiosyncratic visions to create work that is international in appeal yet uniquely Japanese. This gorgeous book features profiles of the artists based on fresh interviews, along with a generous survey of their art. Also including new work by pioneering art world superstar Yayoi Kusama that salutes these extraordinary young artists, Drop Dead Cute is a must-have for fans of Nara and Murakami, as well as anyone interested in contemporary art and pop culture. interior Chiho Aoshima, Japanese Apricot 2, 2000. Inkjet printer on paper. 104.9 x 74.9 cm. Copyright 2005 Chiho Aoshima/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

Genres: Art, Japan, Nonfiction, Art Design

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 2005

About the author

Ivan Vartanian is an author, editor and the founder of Goliga Books, Inc., a book-packaging company specializing in art, photography, and design. His publications on art include: Full Vinyl: The Subversive Art of Designer Toys, an overview of hundreds of the world's most popular miniature collectible figures and the inspired creators behind them, Andy Warhol: Drawings and Illustrations of the 1950s, which traces the artist's ten years of work as a commercial illustrator before his re-invention as a pop artist and impresario, Egon Schiele: Drawings and Watercolors, a comprehensive chronology of the artist's rapid development as a master of human expression before his death at the age of 28, and Drop Dead Cute: The New Generation of Women Artists in Japan, a survey of contemporary drawing in Japan. His design books include: Now Loading . . . : The Aesthetics of Web Graphics, a survey of cutting-edge web design, Graphiscape: New York City and Graphiscape: Tokyo, a series of books about “found graphics“ that define the graphic sense of major cities, and TypoGraphics, a look at the overlap between graphics and type. His photography books include the monographs Studio Portrait: A Documentary of Yoshitomo Nara, Kamaitachi: Photographs by Eikoh Hosoe, and the anthology Setting Sun: Writings by Japanese Photographers. Ivan Vartanian lives in Tokyo, Japan.

Reviews

[Tara B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't write it off as a coffee table book. There is some really good art in here, and much of the writing is interesting.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book at the Ft. Worth art museum where the show was. It featured many up and coming Japanese female artists.

[Khajiit J'jirra Roudhari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artists that were highlights for me were:

Makiko KUDO

Kudo’s paintings are suffused with the special connection that youngsters often feel for animals, triggering a host of memories and emotions – a connection that isn’t so one-sided.
Kudo’s compositions, which she calls “chaotic”, follow the playful logic of dreams, where the various parts fit together according to a pattern that is beyond the conscious mind.

Her use of color and the subject matters just invokes melancholy to me.


Aya TAKANO

The perennial themes of these writers are common topics of science fiction in general and are also present in Takano’s manga and drawings: alternate states of reality, the destruction of the natural environment, the survival of such devastation, the quagmire of sexuality, cultivation of technology, and the exploitation of untapped human capabilities, such as telepathy.
Although Takano’s work has its thematic roots in science fiction, the sinewy nymphs and gentle acrylic washes of her work intimate other channels of stylistic inspiration. Takano notes, “Even though I am inspired by science fiction, the times I draw best are when I draw intuitively.”

Kyoko MURASE

Murase denies that death is an intended theme in her work, and talks instead of the senses. “Water is a continual element, certainly. I often use the image of a pool, or a drum of water, or a bath. Something without current. It envelops you quietly, filling your senses once you are inside. Recently, though, [in my work] there is some slow motion, like a washing machine starting to move, like the flow of hair, or the shimmy of a skirt. Actually, it doesn’t have to be water. It could be anything. Fog, cloud, ocean. Something that is slightly chilly and damp.”

[Khanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

aoshima and takano were my faves

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I never get tired of looking at it. All different art styles from Japan. It's got something for everybody. It ranges from abstract to real to fantasy. I love the texture of some of the pieces. I recommend this to anyone interested in art.

[Kira Lum (Lumpyplume) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Buy this if you want to look at purdy pictures. Don't even bother reading what Vartanian wrote.

[Paloma Meir · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful.