Similarly controversial, the series, 'Assisted Suicide Machine' (1986–2002), presents dysfunctional nooses devised from safety and hiking equipment-one work presenting a noose contraption designed for a child. His 'War Picture Returns' series (1995–2003) revisited sensitive periods in Japanese war history, including kamikaze flyers and the imperial occupation of Korea and other Asian neighbours under the pretence of the Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Aida describes such work as a form of 'shock therapy', drawing out the unspoken issues that already exist in Japan. Seminal ControversiesĬynical of political correctness, Makoto Aida attracted controversy in the 1990s for a series of transgressive works that featured culturally shocking content. Alongside his work with The Group 1965, Makoto is also a member of the alternative puppet theatre, "Gekidan☆Shiki", run by his wife, the artist Hiroko Okada. Each joint exhibition of the group thus allows for different mediums and approaches to subject matter to come together in addressing topics such as globalism, AIDS, and punk culture. Loosely associated, the only commonalities between the artists in the collective are their nationality and year of birth.
In 1994, Makoto Aida formed an artist collective named The Group 1965 with Parco Kinoshita, Hiroyuki Matsukage, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Oscar Oiwa, and Sumihisa Arima. In the painted paper panel, the titular path between rice fields aligns with the hair of a Japanese girl parted to form pigtails a humorous connection between traditional subject matter and a popular subject of contemporary manga and kawaii subculture. Makoto Aida's Azemichi (a path between rice fields) (1991) is an early iteration of his playfulness and engagement with tradition. These influences, as well as the manga and kawaii culture Aida grew up with, are spread throughout Aida's oeuvre of the past two decades. He later went on to study painting at the Tokyo University of the Arts, completing a BFA in 1989 and an MFA in 1991.Īs he became involved with Tokyo's avantgarde scene, the artist turned to parody, in addition to traditional Japanese art. As a teenager, he took up oil painting, and developed an interest in Japan's troubled wartime history. The enormous Ash Color Mountains (2009–11) shows the corpses of hundreds of salarymen, each depicted in loving detail, on vast gray tumuli.Born in 1965 in Niigata, Japan, Makoto dreamed as a child of becoming a manga artist. In the battle for urban cultural life, Aida’s principal enemy is the gray-suited “salaryman,” whose conformism and lack of individual spirit he abhors. Its drawing style alludes to the work of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), an artist often dismissed as “decadent” because of his violent subject matter, madness, and Western influences. Harakiri School Girls combines the fetishistic fashions and nubile bodies of fantasy schoolgirls with the time-honored samurai practice of ritual suicide. Makoto Aida’s work blends social critique with a nihilistic humor that is tempered by his respect for the styles he lampoons. Education: 1989 Tokyo University of the Arts, BFA in painting 1991 Tokyo University of the Arts, MFA in painting (Oil Painting Technique and Material Studio)
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