Yu Tsukada | Reiwa Illustration Exhibition Theory ②: SSS by applibot Redefines "Illustration"
In the second installment of Yu Tsukada's series, he examines how SSS by applibot's exhibition "SSS Re\arise" redefines illustration.Summary
This is the second part of a three-part essay by critic Yu Tsukada, which positions the group exhibition "SSS Re\arise" (2022-24) by the creative studio SSS by applibot as a historically significant attempt. SSS was formed in February 2019 at the call of manager and creative director Masafumi Takagi, comprising eight members including Takagi, Sevenzel, Mai Yoneyama, NAJI Yanagida, Issai, PALOW., BUNBUN, and Taiki, all active in fields such as anime, games, and light novels. PALOW., who produced the exhibition, questioned the tendency for illustrators' careers to fall into either corporate employment or drawing for existing media, and the fact that illustration is often mass-produced as a product; the show therefore produced and exhibited works described as "pursuing the space between mass-produced goods and one-of-a-kind pieces." Alongside pieces leveraging advanced printing technology with the cooperation of companies such as FLAT LABO, the exhibition also presented products such as apparel, keychains, and diffusers based on each illustrator's concept, distinguishing it from mere merchandise. Tsukada further surveys the transformation of internet-era illustration culture (drawing boards, pixiv's rankings visualizing trends) and introduces PALOW.'s critical perspective on a situation in which diverse authorship struggled to be rewarded. He then compares the exhibition's statement, which defines illustrators as both artists and designers, with the discourse of the 1960s Tokyo Illustrators Club—formed by Akira Uno, Tadanori Yokoo, Makoto Wada, and others—who used the word "illustration" to assert an expansion of their professional role. While recognizing the shared assertion of proactive professional expansion, he argues that SSS's significance lies in being a team formed not by graphic designers but by creators from anime, game, and light novel fields—an event not seen since the Tokyo Illustrators Club.
(Source：artscape)