Ten Thousand Things
Multicultural Webfinds

"Ten Thousand Things" is a Buddhist expression representing the dynamic interconnection and simultaneous unity and diversity of everything in the universe.

Scott Tsuchitani's Incarcerated Hello Kitty montages -- "Banzai/Godzilla: Japanese Influences in American Culture Then & Now" at SF MOMA Artists' Gallery June 27-July 27



"... think hello kitty meets dorothea lange + felix gonzalez-torres . . ."

That's how manga-influenced mixed media artist Scott Tsuchitani, describes his work in the "Banzai/Godzilla: Japanese Influences in American Culture Then & Now" exhibition at SF MOMA Artists' Gallery. Scott made a splash with his subversive "Memoirs of a Geisha Guerilla" photo-shopped posters of himself as a geisha he put up overnight throughout San Francisco a couple of years ago, in response to an exhibition at the the Asian Art Museum, “Geisha: Beyond the Painted Smile” exhibit, which annoyed him to no end. I love his subversion of stereotypes, his juxtapositions, and his witty, provocative and engaged approach to life and art:

"I'm interested in visual culture as dynamic process: how people are represented, how it shapes public perception, and in turn, the impact it has on individual subjective experience. It's empowering to approach art as a process of cultural production: I'm participating in creating the culture we live in, and insofar as meaning is a function of cultural context, in my own small way through my art, I can create social change. Through the use of humor, storytelling, and playing with stereotypes, I try to make the invisible visible, to expose the structures of domination behind the apparent naturalness of social relations. My work is, in part, about creating space from the margins in the mainstream, creating space in the culture, whether it be that of family, community, or mass media, for all of us to be just as we are, rather than how the dominant culture tells us to be."

Kathy Aoki's mixed media lambs and Ayu Tomikawa's luminous work featured Hato-chan, her original character, are also manga-influenced.

Other artists include Kim Anno, Lucy Arai, John Casey, Ishan Clemenco, Laura Dufort, Yukako Ezoe, Peggy Gyulai, Theodora Varnay Jones, Tom Marioni, Howard Munson, Tomoko Nakazato, Seiko Tachibana, Kazuaki Tanahashi, and Kimetha Vanderveen.

SFMOMA Artists Gallery
Fort Mason Building A
San Francisco, CA 94123
Phone: 415.441.4777
Email: artistsgallery[at]sfmoma.org

Open Tuesday - Saturday,
11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Admission Free

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