Aida Makoto: Notes from an Apathetic Continent

Following the huge success of Murakami Takashi’s (b. 1962) Superat movement, Japanese contemporary art since 2000 has been mostly represented internationally by Murakami and artists associated with his style, such as Nara Yoshitomo (b. 1959) (see Chapter 38). The dominant fame of Super-at art poses an issue about the rival claims of Aida Makoto (b. 1965) who, in Japan, is often mentioned as the most representative artist to emerge during the 1990s. Edgy, erratic, and extraordinarily diverse in his production, Aida is often seen by even his most fervent admirers as an artist for domestic consumption only, too complex in his self-referential Japaneseness (Yamashita 2012). Yet his oeuvre deserves close attention, as it taps into live-often quite unpalatable-aspects of Japanese popular culture, articulating ambiguous commentary on attitudes, events, and politics well beyond Superat’s more commercial and exportable style.