Yamataka Eye’s Stawad: An extension of Abstract Art or Japanese Contemporary Art?

Yamatake Eye, otherwise known as Tetsurō Yamatsuka, is a Japanese visual artist and vocalist,

probably best known as a member of the experimental band the Boredoms.

His piece entitled Stawad, 2008, is part of a series of mixed media drawn collages based on an

abstract story he wrote about a man who has been frozen since the Ice Age and his pet dinosaur;

it represents a storyboard of the mans previous life. This childlike theme can be easily seen within

his work, as well as taking much influence from psychedelia, music and the Japanese culture.

Artistically his influences come from a variety of areas, most notably from movements in the late

19th century through to the early 20th century like Impressionism, and more abstract movements

like Dada, Futurism; and more particularly I think Rayonnism. It’s the vibrant, almost fluorescent

colours that bring a childlike quality to his work and it’s the sharp, defined lines that slice through

the image splitting the colours that bare a resemblance to abstract and futurist work; maybe more

specifically artists Wassily Kandinsky and Mikhail Larionov. I think it’s the structure and

organization within their work which the aforementioned artists share.

The Japanese influence in Yamataka Eye’s work is clearly apparent. One aspect

of this is the narrative that’s attached to his Stawad series, something that has been common in

traditional Japanese and Oriental art for centuries. The lines and geometric shapes that are

frequent within his collage pieces further expand upon the Japanese influence as they depict

forms in motion and when proportioned it can give off a certain rhythm; this attaching it to the idea

of the correlation between visual art and music, something that Eye greatly believes in. Stawad is

a very busy and complex piece to look at, but seems fluent within the forms and shapes; along

with the colours complementing each other in a frenzy of tone. The geometric forms which lye

within the image bear a resemblance to Cubist, Futurist and Rayonist work. Ultimately, Eye uses

ideas and techniques from both western and eastern movements. When asked in an interview,

for Dazed & Confused magazine, if his work was specifically Japanese he replied, “I’ve never

1
really thought about it like that, but that’s interesting. But I think my style of work is worldwide.”1

Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky was one of a few artists between the late

1800’s and early 1900’s that analysed the relationship between art, colour, tone and form with

music and sound. He once stated, “It melts down the whole of Moscow into a single puddle,

which, like a mad bass tuba sets all one’s inwardness, one’s soul vibrating - - -This is merely the

final chord of the symphony, which brings each colour to supreme life, which make all Moscow

vibrate, like the fortissimo of a gigantic orchestra. Pink, lavender, yellow, white, blue, pistachio

green, the flaming red houses, the churches – each an independent song- the frantically green

lawns, the deeper tones of the trees.”2 Writing about a Moscow sunset, he reversed the

relationship between music and art. Yamataka Eye shares a similar outlook to Kandinsky in that

he believes that the forms, objects and colours correlate to music, each representing a sound or

noise; believing that sound and vision complement each other as a pair. Oliver Watson wrote in

one online article, “For EYE objects in the natural world have sounds that change when they are

interfered with, the act of making artworks becomes a musical experience whereby as he cuts

and pastes he is changing the sounds of his materials and being energized in the process,

working towards the creation of a scene that one takes in with ones whole being.”3 A similar view

is also shared by František Kupka who said, “I believe I can find something between sight and

hearing and I can produce a fugue in colours, as Bach has done in music.”4 It appears to me that

music and sound has its part to play in the development of abstract art, and Eye certainly

contributes to this ideology through his own visual and musical work.

Its Kandinsky’s Great Fugue painting and Improvisation pieces that remind me of

Eye’s mixed media collage drawings. The abstract explosion of shapes, form and colour create

1
Yamataka Eye, ‘Eye of the Storm’, Dazed & Confused, Vol. II, no. 70, February 2009.
2
Wassily Kandinsky, ‘The Evolution of Abstract Painting’, Color & Form 1909-1914: The origin
and evolution of abstract painting in Futurism, Orphism, Rayonnism, Synchromism and the Blue
Rider, Henry G. Gardiner (Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, 1971), p. 8.
3
Oliver Watson, ‘Yamataka Eye’, (http://www.magical-
artroom.com/events/FRIEZE08/FRIEZE08.html, 2008).
4
František Kupka, ‘The Evolution of Abstract Painting’, Color & Form 1909-1914: The origin and
evolution of abstract painting in Futurism, Orphism, Rayonnism, Synchromism and the Blue
Rider, Henry G. Gardiner (Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, 1971), p. 9.

2
an experimental take on oil painting. Geometric patterns and decorations were a common theme

in Eastern parts of the world, typically around Russian provinces. Kandinsky, among other

Eastern European artists, such as Kupka and Jawlensky, brought this motif into their own work

and converted it into Abstract creation.

Eye translates this in his own way, not only by the choice of his media and method but by

attaching it to more modern ideologies and manner. His work appears electric and full of energy,

seeming far more intense than Kandinsky and Larionov’s work. However, Eye shares a certain

sharpness and almost aggressive energy with Larionov, for example the sharp, narrow, quick

diagonal cuttings in Stawad are very similar to the streaks and lines found in Larionov’s
Rayonnist

and The Cockerel paintings. For me it’s the rawness, organization and even technical ability that

separates the early abstract pioneers from the more contemporary styles that Eye practices. I

have no doubt that Eye has contributed to the development of abstract art, but for me there isn’t

much significance within Stawad. The imagery, however intense and electric, has more of a

cartoon like appearance to it, which to me suggests a sense of immaturity crossed with the

colourful tones of anime comics and cartoons from Japanese pop culture, maybe making it more

appealing to younger viewers. What I find clever about Stawad is the fact that it is a visual

assemblage of many shapes, forms, structures and forceful colour and each time I gaze at the

piece something new appears, something that was unnoticed on previous engagements with the

work. Each collage from this series has this effect and can leave the viewer in a dazed state.

Eye’s Stawad is an abstract, psychedelic mix of Futurism, Rayonnism, Sound,

and Pop with a slight essence of traditional Japanese culture mixed with contemporary styles.

The piece is a really vibrant, striking image that bursts into life when observed; it is truly a unique

take on the idea of collage and is well controlled amongst the chaos that is shown within.

3
Bibliography:

1. Read, Herbert. The Meaning of Art (London: Faber & Faber, 1972).
2. Gardiner, Henry G. Color & Form 1909-1914: The origin and evolution of abstract
painting in Futurism, Orphism, Rayonnism, Synchromism and the Blue Rider (San Diego:
Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, 1971).
3. Orlandi, Enzo. La Belle Époque: Fifteen Euphoric Years of European History (New York:
William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1978).
4. Daulte, François. Larionov – Gontcharova: Rétrosepective (Brussels: Musée D’ Ixelles,
1976).
5. Yamataka Eye, ‘Eye of the Storm’, Dazed & Confused, Vol. II, no. 70, February 2009.
6. http://www.magical-artroom.com/events/FRIEZE08/FRIEZE08.html
7. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/pop_playground/eye-art.htm

Image Credit:

8. http://www.magical-artroom.com/events/FRIEZE08/FRIEZE08.html