Appearing androgynous at times, self mutilation and modification were the tools the artist has taken to find her true self in hopes of actualizing her value as a person- psychologically and physically. Spanning the wall of the exhibit space were Pyuupiru‘s collection of self-portraits which featured the artist with a variety of dramatic, mutilated poses. Pyuupiru, Selfportrait #02 A 12-year-old Boy Bearing Scars, 2005-07 To preserve what we love despite beauty’s transience, knowing it will ultimately die, reminds us of the brevity of life and the tragically comforting adage, that nothing lasts forever.

In addition to his woodcarvings, Swallow’s sculpture of a bronzed vintage boom box further expressed the artist’s concern with the flow of time, whether in cyclical or standstill. The composed, docile macabre posed in the center of the room, with an enigmatic chagrin. Each bone, while carved and pieced together delicately to replicate the raw, natural human form, echoed of flaws. Even though skull iconography seems to be everywhere as of late, Swallow also displayed a delicately wood carved skeleton with so much invested work that it seemed human. Shown in Japan for the first time, the detailed, wooden sculptures of Ricky Swallow juxtapose vanity and death with the use of skull iconography in this work.

Ricky Swallow, Younger Than Yesterday, 2006Ĭollection of Ms.Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian The exhibit at the Yokohama Museum of Art featured approximately 250 works of contemporary sculpture, painting, video and photography by six internationally active artists to cite a new working definition of ‘Goth’ in a contemporary setting. Whether it be Marylyn Manson’s baroque stadium tours, a noir-revival in film or artists who explore death, deformation of the body or self-identity, these attempts break through the norm of the status quo. And so, the youth, pop-culture as well as contemporary art have been infected with notions of Goth. The Goth culture of today, found in movies, music, fashion and literature, is influenced more by the revival movement and hinges on darker, yet familiar, concepts of death, darkness or night, abnormality, insanity and just about anything that is opposed to a healthy and conservatively-perceived status quo.

While the noir-drenched subculture’s origins are rooted in the aesthetics of the “gothic” art movement which permeated Europe from the 12th to 16th centuries, Goth imagery and iconography and fashion we see today is more connected to the 19th century British revival movement which entertained a longing for medieval times. Unmistakably, Goth-culture has emerged from centuries ago back into the fore of 21st century life. Courtesy of the Artist and Kurimanzutto, Mexico City Lakra, Untitled (Muscidae and Tea), 2007. Tokyo correspondent Vicente Gutierrez paid a visit to the Yokohama Museum of Art last month to check the exhibition Goth – Reality of the Departed World.

Gothic & Lolita by Masayuki Yoshinaga