Nishiyama Minako
Production process for “illuminé” exhibition
2004
Courtesy: Kodama Gallery

During the early 1990s, while the kawaii culture was frequently used as the epitome of Japanese contemporary culture and established international recognition, Minako Murayama gained wide attention in her adoption of the girly-taste elements, such as girl-mangas and doll-play, as the central motif of her artistic practices.　　The Doll House installation, where the audience can participate and literally experience the space, is one of her representative work. Additionally, she has also created works that recall and connote the sweet yet ephemeral nature of a girl’s fantasy. This is embodied in her spotless white tiara made from sugar and bed filled with pink roses. In her recent relief-like works, the relief patterns, which could be interpreted as either the curves from an arabesque design, or the curly waves of a female character’s hair in a girl-manga, or a girl-manga’s backdrop drawn by a curve template, protrude from the wall-plane and a soft pink color envelops the surrounding space. This is, in fact, the effect of fluorescent pink color applied on the reverse side of the MDF cut-out relief reflecting on the wall. The girly-tastes which were literally and candidly used in her earlier works are subdued in her more recent ones. The various motifs are once processed by the artist, where the girlish essence is made the more abstract and representational, thereby essentialized in the work. Although the color pink is symbolic and represents the girly world, it must be noted that she selected the color for a more realistic purpose; for the nature of the reflection that best fit with her works. In this exhibition, she shows a site-specific installation, where the motifs are installed in several layers to create an all the more intricate and perplexed form of reflection in the space.

在1990年代初，日本当代文化常被说成“可爱文化”，产生了国际影响。西山对少女趣味元素的运用，诸如少女漫画与娃娃游戏，是其艺术实践的中心母题，在当时获得广泛注目。“娃娃屋”（Doll House）装置，观众可参与并可真实地体验其空间，是她的代表作之一。 另外，她亦创作了作品，回忆、意味少女幻想的甜蜜却瞬息而逝。这体现在她用白糖做的无暇的三重冠和充满粉红玫瑰的床中。在她近期的浮雕状的作品中，浮雕图样或可被诠释为源出唐草，或是源出少女漫画中女性角色的卷曲发浪，或是用曲线板画出的少女漫画的背景，图样突出墙面，一种柔和的粉色围合周遭。这事实上是涂于切作浮雕纹样的中密度板背面的荧光粉色映在墙上的效果。在她早期的作品中出现的直白的少女趣味在她更近期的作品中减弱了。艺术家一度掌握的多样的母题，经咀嚼，其少女趣味趋向抽象和象征化，结晶于作品中。虽然粉色有象征色彩，代表着少女的世界，必须注意的是，艺术家选择这一颜色有更现实的考量，是为了求得最适合其作品的反射的效果。在本次展览中，她展出了一件为特定场地而作的装置，纹样母题层层叠叠，以创造空间中更错综复杂的粉色反射效果。