Amano's Worlds

Japan, land of the rising sun and home to some of the world’s oldest traditions, has become in recent times a hub of modernity. While still being rooted firmly in the rituals that for centuries defined a culture of honor, obligation and discipline, Japan has also evolved into a main center for fashion, industry and children’s television. It is this intersection of ancient custom and current trends that currently defines the nation, as well as the extraordinary artwork of Yoshitaka Amano.

Amano’s art has always stood out among his contemporaries in Japan. He inherited the classic techniques of his homeland and fused them with the capabilities of technology, being at the same time a classic and modern artist. In the foreword to “The Complete Prints of Yoshitaka Amano,” he writes, “I grew up in the 1960s, when Japanese popular culture was filled with Disney movies, American comic books and American television. Pop art and Psychedelic art, too, were on the rise. I began printmaking in 1992. Up until then, I had been a made-to-order artist, working on character design for other people’s animation and games, and fantasy art for other people’s picture books. Gradually, I felt the time had come to create my own worlds, following my own vision.”

Those worlds are full of contrasting themes and ideas. Whereas many of his paintings burst with color, flowing lines and an almost lyrical force, others are full of dark, erotic and foreboding images. Some of the prints have a refined, polished style much like European art, full of medieval men and women in romantic scenes and others display his Japanese heritage, using finer brush strokes and featuring slender figures in kimonos. But whatever the scene, Amano never confines himself to one style. From one painting to the next, his methods and approaches vary. He will paint simple line patterns and then switch to a colorful collage of creatures spread across vast space.

One of the unifying aspects of Amano’s art, though, is his penchant for fantastic landscapes and characters. He began his career in television and game design, including working on most of the installments in the popular video game series, “Final Fantasy,” and that taste for the surreal has lingered in most of his work. The people in his prints are often adorned with strange clothing, surrounded by obscure beings and floating through the sky. There are women riding mechanical monsters, Vampires seducing the foolish and Siamese triplets attached at the waist.

Another distinctive feature in his art is the way he forms the human shape. Most of the people (men and women) are lean, with narrow shoulders and thin waists. But the most peculiar detail is the feminine quality of the men. They have soft features, sad eyes and delicate smiles. Some close portraits are so ambiguous that determining the sex of the character is impossible.

Whatever medium he adopts, Yoshitaka Amano’s art is always unique, sophisticated and full of wonder. The book covers a retrospective of his printmaking career, and tracing the evolution of his art helps one understand how detailed the artistic process can be. Whether he’s painting castles in the sky or the intertwined limbs of lovers, you can expect that his images will stir your emotions, and once your eyes have been opened to his many mystical worlds, you'll never view the real one in the same way again.