Azusa Hashimoto | 80 Years After the War, What Do Figures Say Now—Higareo, Takashi Murakami, and Yu Araki
This article examines contemporary Japanese art through figures in sculptures by Higareo, Takashi Murakami, and Yu Araki, 80 years after the war.Summary
The author reviews the "Roppongi Crossing 2025 Exhibition," focusing particularly on Higareo's "Ryukyu Doll Collection in Mainland Japan." This work, which collects Ryukyu dolls—originally souvenirs for US servicemen made in post-war Okinawa that supported women's independence—symbolizes the absurd political and social situation Okinawa faces and the artist's resolve to confront it. The author also draws parallels between this work and two others that express post-war US-Japan relations through the popular culture form of figures: Takashi Murakami's "Polyrhythm," which uses military figures, and Yu Araki's "Stray Dogs," which collects ceramic dogs stamped "Made in Occupied Japan." The article concludes that these artists' works use relics from the recent past, often from the Showa era, to interrogate their meaning precisely because 80 years have passed since the war.
(Source：artscape)