Giant Robot VS Murakami

so i went to see both the murakami show and the giant robot show and they both taught me what to do and what not to do (i think we should all take at least these two things from each show we go see).

first murakami

i'm going to regurgitate some things the curator spoke about during the walk, so sorry if you have heard this before. his sculptures,the lonesome cowboy really connected with this whole american influence on japanese culture statement he is all about. look at the lasso of the cowboy the ejaculation makes. perfect statement. the other just doesn't have as strong of the same americanism (is jump rope american?). what a great subtle juxtaposition of such distinct semiotics!
The rest of the works are of similar strength, there's much better writing on them out there, i just wanted to point out this work because i still feels as an american, it is the strongest (i mean seriously people, unless your from akihabara, how well will you really understand the depth of the statement about otaku culture? i mean so many of his pieces have such strong asian references for semiotics that you just wouldn't understand it and would only appreciate the superficialness of the work.

ok, now for giant robot.

i will forgive them for 3 big things mainly because i'm sure they are new to this (for any other institute, this wouldn't be forgivable) 1. SPACE, all the works were soooooooo squashed together, the impressiveness of the work detracted from the placement. 2. STATEMENT, i mean, other than an assembly of works by people they like, i can't see much of a connection between the works. and i don't buy their statement about it being a show about asian american pop art, but more about that later. 3. WHO PUT A HOLE THROUGH SASHIE MASAKATSU'S WORK! wtf people, i was there at the opening, and this must have happened either before the opening or when they were setting up. you patch that shit up man! shit, he's the best one out of the entire lot of them!

ok, after all that, what really bugs me is, why is gary baseman in this show!his work is so based on american cartoons and his influence on asian artists is questionable at best! (they should have has kozyandan instead) i mean it's gary baseman! i know exactly how he got into the show and it is very gary baseman of him. but he started his illustration style and ideology way before japanese anime became big in the US (and i wouldn't put it past him for just saying he was influenced by it just to sell more paintings).

but in the end WHO CARES because it's giant robot, and they can put up anything they like, and that's so much cooler than just an art show. it's not about art, it's about what they like, and what they like defines so much of what asian american culture now that whatever they think influences asian american culture either has or will so the point is really mute!

haha

on a side note, did anyone spot the 16 short throw nec projectors that LV had for their storefront inside the show? you can not see a seam in the projection overlap area and they are all perfectly synced. it's quite impressive