Japanese animation (anime), which
has attained almost cult status among young people globally during the past several decades, is increasingly breaking into the mainstream. My Reality: Contemporary Art and the Culture of Japanese Animation investigates the effect that this form of pop culture has had on today’s art in Japan and other Asian countries and in the West. Presenting works by artists from these different regions, the exhibition explores how Western and Eastern artists have influenced one another through their shared interest in the culture of anime.

American animated cartoons and comic books became popular among Japanese youth after World War II
as part of their rebellion against post-Hiroshima society. In a counter trend, Japanese anime became popular in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world initially through limited importation of Japanese comic books (manga) and animated films.

While anime has its origins in Japanese wood-block printing as well as American animation, it posits technology as a positive force in contemporary society and, therefore, much anime has a futuristic quality. The works in the exhibition focus on slick, sci-fi concepts such as futuristic technology, cyborgs and other humanoid robotics, aliens and fantastic creatures, and a post-nuclear apocalyptic landscape. The exhibition also explores social and economic themes such as gender roles, consumerism, and pop culture. The works on view range from Paul McCarthy’s cartoon characters to Micha Klein’s glossy images inspired by club culture; and from Takashi Murakami’s sculpture, which uses anime directly, to Momoyo Torimitsu’s enormous balloon rabbits, which satirize anime’s exaggeratedly cute images.

My Reality is curated by Des Moines Art Center director Susan Lubowsky Talbott and senior curator Jeff Fleming. The Des Moines Art Center and ICI have published an 80-page illustrated catalogue, containing essays by the curators and by artist Takashi Murakami.

Brooklyn Museum of Art Brooklyn, NY
July 28 - October 7, 2001

Contemporary Arts Center
Cincinnati, OH
January 24 - March 31, 2002

Tampa Museum of Art
Tampa, FL
April 21 - June 23, 2002

Chicago Cultural Center
Chicago, IL
July 13 - September 8, 2002

Akron Art Museum
Akron, OH
September 21, 2002 - January 5, 2003

Norton Museum of Art
West Palm Beach, FL
April 12 - June 15, 2003

Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art
Tacoma, WA
July 12 - September 21, 2003

Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
October 13, 2003 - January 4, 2004