As implied by her part in the 2016 SUPERFLAT x JUXTAPOZ exhibition in the Vancouver Art Museum, Chiho Aoshima is an artist associated with the art movement known as Superflat. Her most recent piece titled Little Ms. Gravestone’s Absent Musings is a digital multimedia animation displayed as a triptych. Yet, despite the fact that the characteristics of the Superflat movement are evident in all her works, Little Ms. Gravestone’s Absent Musings in particular is able to capture the essence of Superflat due to its content and nature as a multimedia piece.
Before asking what makes the piece Superflat, one must define the meaning of the term “Superflat”. Superflat can refer to several things: an aesthetic, the name of an art movement, as well as a moniker used for artists associated Takashi Murakami and their artistic style. Despite its etymology however, the movement is far from …show more content…
The clouds in the background, for instance, clearly draws cues from traditional works rather than reality with the bulbous front and the tadpole-like tail end. However, there are more aspects than just clouds. The gravestones, for instance, are clearly influenced by the various Japanese religious aesthetics such as the lotus and the ohm found in Buddhism. The engravings on the gravestones bring to mind another traditional art form: calligraphy. While calligraphy can be heavily stylized at times, the Japanese hold value in the simple, almost ascetic aesthetic delineated by the engravings.
While all these elements in the work come together to make a hauntingly exquisite scene, Aoshima’s work must be approached by a viewer multiple times in order to see its true beauty. The three sprites only come to life and perform the original music score when approached. Yet, they never quite perform the same movements in the same sequence, thus allowing for a new visual experience every