Pop Art that Packs a Punch
Published in the Weekly Volcano, July 2, 2015
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"American
Infamy #5" acrylic on canvas, collection of Jordan Schnitzer, Portland,
Ore. Photo courtesy Tacoma Art Museum
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The Roger
Shimomura painting exhibition at Tacoma Art Museum mines the tradition of pop
art and the history of Japanese-American relations to skewer prejudice and
stereotype with painfully satirical paintings.
Shimomura, an
American artist living in Seattle, was born to a Japanese family shortly before
the outbreak of World War II. He and his family were interned in the Minidoka
War Relocation Camp in Idaho for two years when he was a small child. Wall text
for the show states that his earliest memories are from the camp. Much of the
history of his years at Minidoka are illustrated in paintings in this
exhibition.
“Far too many American-born citizens of Asian
descent continue to be thought of as only American knockoffs,” Shimomura writes. “This latest series of paintings is an attempt
to ameliorate the outrage of these misconceptions by depicting myself battling
those stereotypes, or in tongue-in-cheek fashion, becoming those very same
stereotypes.”
There are self-portraits of the artist in the
guise of American icons including George Washington, Superman, Popeye, Mickey
Mouse, and a host of comic book characters. We see him fighting other
Americans, and we see him fighting Japanese, Chinese and other enemies, all to satirically prove
himself a real. In some of these battles — most noticeably those with the
Chinese, wherein he appears as Chairman Mao among other apparitions — he is
battling the notion that all Asians look alike.
Although most of his images attack stereotypes
with humor, his paintings of life in the internment camp are dead serious depictions of too-real history.
The most powerful image in the show, both
graphically and in terms of content, is “American Infamy #5.” Painted in a
comic-book style, it is a birds’-eye view of the
camp with three soldiers on a guard tower in the foreground. Two of the
soldiers are holding rifles; one mans a machine gun. In a printed statement,
the artist explains that while the government said the machine guns were aimed
outside, they were in fact aimed inward at the people living in the camps. Ominous
black clouds hang over the camp. One of
the soldier’s faces is black and in shadow, while the other one grimaces. None look
toward the viewer. It is a menacing image.
Also powerful is a simple group of 10 small,
childlike paintings depicting 10 days in the
camp. One of the last ones is called “Santa comes to visit in the mess hall.”
Santa is seen in silhouette through a window and behind barbed wire. Next to it
is a picture of when a child from back home in Seattle comes to visit and they
can touch each other only by reaching through the barbed wire.
The paintings are executed in a style derived
from comic books and from pop art. The majority of them are large,
colorful, and beautifully designed, with figures
grouped to create abstract patterns that force the eye to move around the
canvas. One group of four paintings acknowledges Shimomua’s influences by
containing a “brushstroke” borrowed from Roy Lichtenstein and copies of Andy
Warhol’s portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor in collage-like
compositions with Japanese women in traditional garb.
“Halloween” depicts a group of kids
trick-or-treating in Halloween costumes. They are all white except for one
African-American, and they are chasing the kid in the Japanese soldier costume
like angry villagers with pitchforks and brooms chasing the Frankenstein
monster. In a wall text, the artist explains
that when they were kids nobody wanted to wear the Japanese costume because
they were all taught to hate and fear the Japs. In various forms, some humorous
and some not, this is the underlying message of all his paintings.
Roger Shimomura’s An American Knockoff, Tue.-Sun. 10
a.m. to 5 p.m., Third Thursday 10 a.m. to –8 p.m., through Sept. 13, $12-$14,
Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave. Tacoma, http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/
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