Mulling over manga

A Concordia conference examines the
expanding reach of Japan’s optic pop

HIGH AND LOW: Howie Tsui’s “Cumulous Dark”

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

It’s impossible to ignore the extent to which Japanese popular culture, specifically the tropes and techniques of anime and manga, have insinuated themselves into global culture, from snack packaging and Olympic mascots to the upper echelons of contemporary fine art. As an art history prof specializing in contemporary Asian and Asian-Canadian art, with an interest in remix culture to boot, Concordia’s Alice Ming Wai Jim is acutely aware of these countless intersections, enough so to organize a multifaceted conference panel on the matter.

“This convergence of fields can’t be tackled unless we think about it in interdisciplinary terms,” says Jim, “so we have an art historian, artists and artists who are curators as well, from different backgrounds.”

Of course, considered for even a moment, the angles from which to approach the issue rapidly multiply. “I would have loved to have more diversity but we only have one afternoon to play with.”

It will certainly be a full afternoon. First up is McGill professor Thomas Lamarre, speaking on the sociological resonance of anthropomorphic “funny animals” in pre-and post-war manga and anime, touching on the idea of neoteny, the amplified cuteness that’s led to today’s “kawaii!” craze. Next in line is Ottawa artist Howie Tsui presenting his own work and explaining how it’s informed by Asian traditions and by manga and anime—and by extension, the Superflat movement spearheaded by Takashi Murakami (that’s right, the dude who designed Kanye West’s Graduation album)—as well as the North American lowbow art insurgency.

Following that, Concordia’s Matthew Penney explores the various facets of Chinese representation in modern manga, both positive and negative. “With the popularization of Japanese popular culture and its increasing appearance in contemporary art,” says Jim, “there’s a tendency to take it very lightly. It’s become very trendy. So I appreciate how this panel has come together to consider some historical aspects of the development of these forms, and also to see how these cross-cultural engagements have been around for a long time, and haven’t always been about a hyper-commercialized, market-driven society.”

Act two of the conference has McGill’s Marc Steinberg expounding on the wave of designer toys—rest assured, Murakami gets a nod again—and two artists in part inspired by manga. Ryan Rice, hailing from Kahnawake, pits cartoons and comic books against colonialism. “I’ve known Ryan’s work for a while now,” says Jim, “and one of the striking things is that he and some other First Nations artists are particularly interested in drawing from comics graphics,” adding that the First Nations visual vocabulary brings yet another element into play.

Artist and doctoral student Joanne Hui, in addition to moderating, discusses her own comics-based works, reflecting on street-level Shanghai and the darker corners of Chinese-Canadian history.

“What attracts me to the comics form,” says Hui, “is that you can show three different narratives at the same time, you can belie what’s been shown. You have a certain discourse that tells the truth in language, but the image will show that that language is a lie. History holds so many truths and lies, depending on which point you situate yourself at.”

AT CONCORDIA’S YORK AUDITORIUM
(1515 STE-CATHERINE W., ROOM
EV-1.615) ON FRIDAY, MARCH 13,
1 P.M., FREE