Penyo-Henyo+by+Mr.

Title: Penyo-Henyo, Pyopyo Edition Artist: Mr. (born Masakatsu Iwamoto)
 * Artwork Identification **

Date: 2005 Period: Contemporary Country of Origin: Japan Cultural/Ethnic Affiliation: Japanese Medium: fibre-reinforced plastic and acrylic Size: 223 x 85 x 100 cm. (87.8 x 33.5 x 39.4 in.)


 * Others Displayed in Collection **


 * Museum/Collection **

2008, Permanent collection of Royal/T (recently closed). Culver City, CA.

Mr. is a Contemporary artist who graduated from the Department of Fine Arts from the Sokei Arts Academy and is currently working in Tokyo. Born in Cupa of Japan in 1969, his real name is Masakatsu Iwamoto. He took his pen name "Mr." from a famous baseball player who himself was given the nickname "Mister Giants" for his mixing of English and Japanese; likewise Mr. adopted his pen name because of his fusion of English and Japaneses cultural themes in his work. He is part of the Kaikai Kiki, an art production company organized by Takashi Murakami that aids artist in the promotion and management of artwork. Like many members of Kaikai Kiki, Mr. is also part of the art movement known as super-flat, a term named by Takashi to describe flattened forms in works influenced by Anime and Manga. Mr. typically depicts otaku imagery of anime characters often portraying young girls in an examination of a Japanese subculture of otaku known as "lolita complex". Mr. had his first solo exhibition titled at Tokyo's Tomio Kayama Gallery back in 1998 where he introduced his lolita complex subject and many of his works there was done on the back of store receipts, the title of the show "Mr. Artist of the Alps" came from an anime titled "Heidi: Girl of the Alps".
 * Introduction **

The piece Penyo-Henyo, Pyopo Edition is signed in English, dated 2005, and is numbered one of three (1/3). The three part series incorporates manga/anime style portrayals of adolescents, which was typical of the manner in which Mr. worked prior to 2010.


 * Penyo-Henyo Show History **

April 8 - July 24, 2005 //Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture// USA, New York, Japan Society Gallery  24 September - 31 December, 2006 //Chiho Aoshima, Mr., and Aya Takano //, France, Lyon, Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art  2008 //Just Love Me// USA, California, Culver City, Royal/T   The blonde-haired sculpture depicts a young boy standing on a platform that is detailed with a farm-like landscape. He is the central point on the platform and stands happily, with an arm raised in the air. The style of the boy is in traditional anime style; exaggerated eyes, huge head that doesn’t really proportionately right for the body, and an array of bright colors. The figure wears jeans with a variety of different patch like items on it, him looking like a kid with no worry. He uses the three figures to reference the atomic bombs being on Hiroshima. He used the name of the show, //Little Boy,// to highlight a change in new cultural forms in the aftershock of the bombing along with the trauma. The boy is a character to focalize with an otaku, a young person who is obsessed with computer or particular aspects of popular culture. With the fact that he made these sculptures to reference the bombing of Hiroshima, the fact of how happy the boy is, has to be taken into consideration. He represents how naïve and innocent the children were as the bomb hit, that nobody knew what was coming; a lack of innocence spared.
 * Analysis**
 * Comparable artist/ work**

Takashi Murakami is the founder and current President of Japanese art production company Kaikai Kiki Co. Kaikai Kiki Co. represents a group of young Japanese artists, one of which being Mr. The company has approximately 50 employees in its Tokyo headquarters an 20 employees in its New York studio. The superflat and manga styles were common among the Kaikai Kiki Co. artists until approximately 2010.

Known as his legacy, Takashi Murakami took part in mentoring multiple artists in Japan. Not only did he bring ideas to Mr., he engaged in mentoring artists such as, Chinatsu Ban, Akane Koide and Rei Sato, to name a few. The work of Murakami can be related to the otaku style much like Mr. he even links the otaku to the life of Japan, post WWII. Murakami took a lot of interest in Modern and Japanese art but was also interested in animation, hence why otaku followers liked his work so much. [|Takashi Murakami] Takashi Murakami, //Pom & Me,// 2008-2009

Anime and Manga, unlike other types of animations such as comics, are relatively done by one artist and writer. Although the thought has come across to people, anime is not only a Japanese trait, but it is all over Asia. Mr. until 2010, was associated with the anime and manga creative output. This way of art is not only targeted for children. There are multiple terms that are used in anime and manga and Mr. associated himself with some of them. The terms are – shonen, shojo, seinen, josei, and kodomomuke. They are used to determine the intended audience. Mr.’s audience, with his bright colors and approachable forms, can be associated with a variety of audiences. In //Penyo Henyo,// the bright childlike figures can bring in anyone from children to adults, all looking at different aspects of his work.
 * Anime, Manga, & Otaku**

Although terms such as "manga," "anime," and "okatu" are not regarded negatively in U.S. pop culture, the terms have a negative connotation in Japan. In the Japanese culture, an okatu person is someone who spends much of their time on the internet, playing video games, or watching anime. Being a part of the community is important among most of the Japanese culture, so being a recluse is seen as undesirable.

Online Sources: http://www.artnet.com/artists/mr/penyo-henyo-0ETI2xpeScVZQh_vEXZ6Jg2 http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/mr#6 http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp/artists/profile_mr/ http://www.hintmag.com/artcrawl/artcrawl.php https://www.perrotin.com/artists/Mr/31#images http://mymodernmet.com/2100445blogpost2076/ http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/contemporary-asian-art-hk0386/lot.833.html http://nymag.com/nymag/critics/art/11707/ https://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/HIS135/Events/Anime62/Anime62.html https://kotaku.com/how-to-identify-the-basic-types-of-anime-and-manga-1538285518 http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp/whatskaikaikiki/ http://www.theartstory.org/artist-murakami-takashi.htm

Book sources: Yamaguchi, Yumi. Warriors of Art: a Guide to Contemporary Japanese Artists. Kodansha International, 2007.