Chiho Aoshima: Dreams, Nightmares, and the Superflat World

The Pop Surrealist Reimagining Japanese Myth and Modernity

Chiho Aoshima is a central figure in the “Superflat” movement, a style coined by her mentor Takashi Murakami, which collapses the distinctions between high and low art, between traditional Japanese aesthetics and modern pop culture. Her art is a lush, dreamlike world that is both enchanting and unsettling, filled with vibrant colors, fantasy, and an underlying sense of mystery. Today, let’s delve into Aoshima's vivid and fantastical universe and see how her work continues to captivate audiences around the globe.

Chiho Aoshima - The Souls and Flowers Around Me

The Roots of Superflat: Context and Influences

To understand Aoshima’s work, we first need to look at the broader Superflat movement. Takashi Murakami coined the term to describe a visual style that draws heavily on the flat, two, dimensional aesthetics of traditional Japanese art, while incorporating the imagery of manga, anime, and commercial culture. Superflat is also a critique of the consumerism that drives much of contemporary culture and the blurred boundaries between the artificial and the authentic.

Aoshima, one of Murakami’s most notable protégés, embodies the spirit of Superflat in her work, but with a distinctly personal touch. Born in 1974, Aoshima originally studied economics, but her passion for art led her to the world of Kaikai Kiki, Murakami's art production company. Without formal training, she began using Adobe Illustrator to create her iconic digital illustrations, works that transcend the limitations of their medium to explore complex themes of nature, death, rebirth, and fantasy.

The Dreamscapes of Nature and the Supernatural

Aoshima’s art draws the viewer into a dreamscape that is at once ethereal and unsettling. Her most iconic works depict vast landscapes filled with lush, supernatural elements. These are not serene, untouched natural scenes; rather, they are teeming with strange beings, goddesses, demons, and anthropomorphized plants. A recurring theme in her work is the cyclical nature of life, portrayed through motifs of growth and decay. Trees rise like skyscrapers, their branches covered with strange faces, while rivers turn into flowing hair, merging with the human figures that populate her world.

Chiho Aoshima - City Glow

Her piece “City Glow” is an excellent example of her unique blend of nature and urban imagery. In this large, scale work, skyscrapers appear to grow organically from the earth, intertwining with fantastical elements like clouds, spirits, and floating goddesses. The city is alive, pulsating with energy, but also carries a hint of darkness. Aoshima captures the tension between the beauty of modernity and the potential decay that lurks beneath the surface, offering a nuanced reflection on urban life.

Embracing the Dark Side: Themes of Life, Death, and the Uncanny

Aoshima’s work isn’t all sweetness and light; there is a palpable undercurrent of the eerie and uncanny running through her fantastical worlds. Her depiction of ghosts, spirits, and supernatural entities reflects a deep connection to traditional Japanese folklore, which is rich with tales of yūrei (ghosts) and yōkai (supernatural beings). In her universe, these figures are neither entirely benevolent nor entirely malevolent, they simply exist as part of the natural cycle, blurring the lines between what is real and what is imagined.

In “Ashes of Time,” Aoshima explores themes of decay and renewal. The scene is apocalyptic, a burning city, skeletal trees, and a sky that seems to collapse upon itself. Yet amidst this devastation, there is a strange beauty. Aoshima’s vibrant colors and delicate lines invite the viewer to look beyond the destruction, to see the possibility of rebirth. There is a sense of transformation in her work, an understanding that death and decay are not endings but necessary parts of the natural order.

Superflat, but Deeply Layered: The Feminine Perspective

Aoshima's work often brings forth a strong feminine presence, goddesses, maidens, and anthropomorphized elements of nature take center stage. These figures are both powerful and vulnerable, embodying a complex femininity that defies simple categorization. Her female characters often appear to merge with the natural elements around them, suggesting a deeper harmony and oneness with the earth. They exude both innocence and an otherworldly power, suggesting the multifaceted nature of womanhood.

Aoshima also incorporates elements of kawaii (cuteness), but always with an edge. Her figures may have wide, innocent eyes, but they are just as likely to be surrounded by ghosts or positioned in surreal, unsettling environments. In doing so, Aoshima subverts the typical kawaii aesthetic, adding layers of meaning that speak to both beauty and danger, innocence and experience.

Public Art and Expansive Dreams

One of the most remarkable aspects of Aoshima’s career has been her success in creating large, scale public installations. Her works have adorned subway stations, airports, and museums, bringing her dreamlike vision to spaces of everyday life. Her installation at the Gloucester Road tube station in London transformed a mundane public space into a fantastical landscape, inviting commuters to momentarily step into another world. These large, scale pieces demonstrate Aoshima’s ability to expand her intimate, digitally, created works into immersive environments, creating experiences that envelop the viewer entirely.

Chiho Aoshima - The Fountain of the Skull

Aoshima’s approach to public art also reflects her belief that art should be accessible, that it should not be confined to galleries or the privileged few, but should enter the spaces of daily life, provoking reflection and wonder. In doing so, she expands the reach of her imaginative vision, connecting with audiences who may not otherwise engage with contemporary art.

A Vision Beyond Boundaries

Chiho Aoshima’s work embodies the essence of Superflat while also pushing beyond it, creating a richly layered visual language that speaks to the complexities of modern life, myth, and identity. Her art invites us to confront the magic and mystery that lie just beneath the surface of our everyday reality. Through her intricate depictions of nature, the supernatural, and urban landscapes, she offers a vision of the world that is both enchanting and profoundly unsettling.

Aoshima’s unique ability to blend traditional Japanese aesthetics with modern pop culture sensibilities has cemented her place as a key figure in contemporary art. Her works are whimsical yet thought, provoking, simple in their flatness yet endlessly deep in their themes. In a world increasingly driven by technology and rapid urbanization, Aoshima’s art serves as a reminder of the delicate balance between progress and nature, and the beauty, and danger, that can arise when the two converge.