Paperless Tiger
  • Paper[less] Tiger
  • BOOKS
  • COMING SOON
  • Press/Contact
  • Immersion Therapy
  • Curated Projects
  • Paper[less] Tiger
  • BOOKS
  • COMING SOON
  • Press/Contact
  • Immersion Therapy
  • Curated Projects

 paperlesstiger

Shunga: the regression

27/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
When I was at uni, I wrote a thesis on Japanese woodblock prints. You know, the kind that artists like Hokusai and Utamaro perfected and that gaijin like me just loved to bits while the Japanese just scratched their heads and wondered what all the Western fuss was about.
Ukiyo-e which is the umbrella term for the woodblock genre is also a play on the Buddhist word which means the floating world. To simplify things for those not in the know, the floating world was kind of like an allegory for everything that is ephemeral and that often brings pleasure. It was from that Buddhist idea that the old pleasure quarters were often referred to as ukiyo - the floating world - because in places like Tokyo and Kyoto, where rigid social etiquette was already in place, the pleasure quarters were seen as a world of their own. These were places where courtesans, geisha and even kabuki actors were top of the pops. Places where everything had a price and where desires had no limits.
Ukiyo-e (the prints) depicted all kinds of things. They were of artistic and graphic quality, but in a way they had a role in old Japan not unlike that of magazines and the print media today. They were seen as flotsam and although they are now collected and cherished, back then they were often like posters that you'd slap up on your walls to hide scuff masks.
The first illustrated travel guides were ukiyo-e which spelled out the routes on the old Tokkaido highway with seasonal scenes designed in accompaniment. There are some amazing images of old Japan from those kinds of series, but the prints, which will large volume prints, also covered scenes of comedy, theatre and life in the pleasure quarters.

Picture
I think one of the things that attracted me to writing a thesis about the woodblock prints was that they often had humourous undertones to them. They often played on words (through their images) and they often left a pretty beautiful insight into Japanese thinking (especially during the Edo period).
One of the other amazing things about ukiyo-e is that there seemed an endless scope of subject matter on offer. Much like magazines today. One of the most popular sub categories of the prints was shunga. The term represents the erotic side of our nature, and so shunga prints were all the rage for the way in which they explored desire and sexuality, often without boundaries. What you often get with shunga are scenes where genitalia are grossly exaggerated and where the figures are often indistinguishable across the prints. My interpretation of that was so that they could be used to kind of project your own identity onto the prints as you looked at them. I remember reading the definitive publication on shunga written by Timothy Screech and thinking, wow, this guy is brave and the Japanese, even from the 16th century were already peerless and ahead of us all.
Well you know how I feel about Japan and how it really is the invincible, superior nation on earth. Except, I'm not so sure right now. You see, I stumbled across an article in which a modern day shunga volume has been published. And what it spells out- i.e that we have regressed to the point where we no longer have the maturity or humour to deal with something that is so innate to our being. Why? Because despite our advancements as people in some areas, we now live in a world where the idea of shunga needs to be censored by clown like emojis, basically stripping them of their value and importance, and robbing us of the opportunity to acknowledge and explore all of the facets of our personality without resorting to childlike, prudish self censoring.
More at the Guardian on the truly offensive item like the one below.


Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Dave
    ​DI VITO

    ​Writer, teacher and former curator who splits his time between Rome and Melbourne.

    Picture
    Tweets by @DDVinyltiger
    Picture











    Picture
    Picture

    Subscribe!

    * indicates required

    Archives

    July 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    April 2020
    July 2019
    March 2019
    August 2018
    March 2018
    August 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    March 2014
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    2016
    80s Music
    Adelita Huang-Bey
    Ahmed Basiony
    Ai Weiwei
    Alec Soth
    Alessia Rollo
    Andris Eglitis
    Angelica Dass
    Ang Lee
    Anne Inhauf
    Art
    Art Curator
    Asako Narahashi
    Atif Khan
    Australia
    Bande A Sud
    Banksy
    Belinda Carlisle
    Berlin
    Bernardo Oyarzùn
    Beyonce
    Biennale 2011
    Biennale 2015
    Biennale 2017
    Biennale2019
    Biennale 2022
    Bill Viola
    Bitume
    Blonde Redhead
    Blondie
    Bruce Nauman
    Cabello/Carceller
    Candice Breitz
    Cevdet Erek
    Chiharu Shiota
    China
    Christo
    Cinthia Marcelle
    City
    Claudia Fontes
    Cody Choi
    Collin Sekajugo
    Contemporary Art
    Corporate Sponsorship
    Crash
    Crowdfunding
    Culture
    Curating
    Damon Kowarsky
    Dan Black
    Dapunta Hyang
    Darren Hayes
    David Bowie
    Design
    Diego Gualandris
    Donna Summer
    Dragoljub Raša Todosijevic
    Ekaterina Vasilyeva
    Elaine Sturtevant
    Electronica
    Environmental
    Events
    Exhibitions
    Fabrizio Albertini
    Fertility Day
    Fight The Fight
    Film
    Fiona Hall
    Flaka Haliti
    Francesc Ruiz
    Francis Alys
    Fuori
    Galleries
    Gal Weinstein
    George Drivas
    George Michael
    Gerald Machona
    Gian Maria Tosatti
    Giorgio Andreotta Calò
    Giorgio Di Noto
    GLBT
    Gloria Casto
    Great Tigers
    Gwen Stefani
    Gyula Vàrnai
    Hajnal Nemeth
    Hany Armanious
    Haruki Murakami
    Heri Dono
    Heritage Management
    Hiroshi Sugimoto
    Ibrahim Mahama
    If They Could Speak
    Illit Azoulay
    Imranovi
    Irma Blank
    Italian Pavilion
    Italy
    Ivan Grubanov
    Jana Źelibská
    Janet Jackson
    Jan Fabre
    Jan Stradtmann
    Japan
    Jason Moran
    Jeon Joonho
    Jesse Jones
    Joel Peter Witkin
    John Niven
    Jorge Fuembuena
    Jun Nakasuji
    Kaarina Kaikkonen
    Kanye West
    Kate Ceberano
    Katherine Macdaid
    Katrina Neiburga
    Keith Haring
    Kunstpedia
    Kutlug Ataman
    Kylie
    Kyoko Imazu
    Kyoto
    Land Art
    Last Train Home
    Laszlo Biro
    Latifa Echakhch
    Lebohang Kganye
    Lecce
    Lee Wan
    Lee Yongbaek
    Legambiente
    Lisa Reihana
    Lorenzo Maccotta
    Lucamaleonte
    Lushsux
    Madonna
    Making My Peace
    Makus Schinwald
    Marcello Maloberti
    Marco Fusinato
    Mark Jenkins
    Marzia Migliora
    Matthieu Bernard Raymond
    Maurizio Galimberti
    May You Live In Interesting Times
    Media
    Melbourne
    Meshell N
    M.i.a
    Michelangelo Pistoletto
    Mika Rottenberg
    Milk Of Dreams
    Mircea Cantor
    Modern Architecture
    Moha Modsiakeng
    Monica Bonvicini
    Moon Kyungwon
    Mounir Fatmi
    MTV
    Muhannad Shono
    Murals
    Museo Nazionale D'arte Orientale
    Museums
    Music
    Na Chainkua Reindorf
    Naples
    Natalie Imbruglia
    New Zealand
    Nicola Samori
    Nidhal Chamekh
    Nina's Drag Queens
    Nirvana
    Nufactory
    Painting
    Paris
    Pascale Marthine Tayou
    Pepo Salazar
    Pet Shop Boys
    Photography
    Pop
    Pop Culture
    Prince
    Printmakers
    Public Art
    Puglia
    Queendom
    Raffaela Naldi Rossano
    Ralph Rugoff
    Rania Matar
    Reactions
    Religion
    Retailing
    Riace
    Rihanna
    Rinko Kawauchi
    Rip
    Robbie Williams
    Roberto Cuoghi
    Robin Rhode
    Roisin Murphy
    Rome
    Salvador Dali
    Sam Harris
    Sculpture
    Self Publishing
    Shanghai
    Simone Leigh
    Social Media
    Space Invader
    Street Art
    Sun Kil Moon
    Super Pop
    Tabaimo
    Takahiro Iwasaki
    Television
    Terry Adkins
    Theatre
    Thomas Hirschhorn
    Tiago Mata Machado
    Tivoli
    Tomboys Don't Cry
    Tom Ford
    Tony Oursler
    Tori Amos
    Tracey Moffatt
    Travel
    Uffe Isolotto
    Unesco
    Vajiko Chachkhiani
    Valentina Vannicola
    Vatican Museum
    Venice
    Venice Biennale
    Vettor Pisani
    Video
    Video Art
    Vincent J Huang
    Vinyl Tiger
    Whitney Houston
    Willem Popelier
    Writing
    Wu Jian'an
    Wunderkammern
    Xu Bing
    Yao Huiffen
    Yuki Kihara
    Zai Kuning

    RSS Feed




Dave Di Vito is a writer, teacher and former curator.He's also the author of the Vinyl Tiger series and Replace The Sky.
For information about upcoming writing projects subscribe to the mailing list.
Dave hates SPAM so he won't trouble you with any of his own. He promises.