ヤノベケンジ

giant torayan

source: teachartwikiwikispaces

Introduction
Kenji Yanobe is a Japanese artist who was born in Osaka in 1965. He studied at Kyoto City University of the Arts and graduated with an MA in 1991. While much of his education involved the “great masters” of Western art, Yanobe felt that his interest lied in the things that excited him as a child: science fiction, robots, and Godzilla, to name a few. Like the many modern American artists who look to American pop culture for inspiration, Yanobe draws on his childlike enthusiasm for futuristic Japanese fantasy in his works. However, while they might be charming, cute, and colorful, Yanobe’s protective suits, radiation-proof vehicles, and aluminum robots often have haunting undertones of post-apocalyptic paranoia. It is this “whimsical doomsday” quality that defines Yanobe’s work and makes them so compelling.

Descriptive Analysis
Giant Torayan (2005) is a large animatronic sculpture made of aluminum, steel, brass, and styrofoam, measuring approximately 720cm×460cm×310cm. Polished to a shine and resembling an enormous child in a hazmat suit, Torayan can do a number of things – move its head and arms, sing, dance, light up, and sound a foghorn, among others. Most notable, however, is its ability to shoot a jet of flame from its mouth.

Torayan is controlled by a small metal console with a microphone located several meters away. It responds to vocal commands, but only those given in the voices of children. Because of this, Yanobe calls Torayan the “ultimate child’s weapon.”

Additionally, on Torayan’s torso, there is a sealed door which leads to a chamber. Inside are several identical heads from the ventriloquist dummy Torayan, the namesake of Giant Torayan and the trademark of Yanobe, along with a television monitor serving as an internal entertainment center.

Formal Analysis
As the “ultimate child’s weapon,” Giant Torayan appears as if directly pulled from the realm of childrens’ imaginations. It represents everything they need to protect themselves in the world of a post-atomic apocalypse – while cute, whimsical, and approachable in appearance, Torayan’s loud sounds and fiery blasts make adults keep their distance. Giant Torayan is their friend and guardian, responding only to their commands.

However, Giant Torayan is also an illustration of the power it is meant to protect against. A feat of engineering and technology, it is at essence something that destroys, creating fear in those around it with fire, sound, and sheer immensity. As one looks up at it, Giant Torayan looks down with an ambiguous smile on its baby-like face, an innocence that masks its true nature.

Contextual Analysis
Much of Kenji Yanobe’s artwork comes from the Japanese science fiction he was raised on, and Giant Torayan is no different. Inspired directly by the giant robots that have become a staple of Japanese pop culture, Torayan resembles icons like Tetsujin 28 and various tokusatsu characters. This familiarity creates an immediate connection with Japanese children and adults who have always been surrounded by giant robot heroes. Also from Japanese pop culture comes a strong paranoia and fear of disaster, which has stuck with Japan ever since the atomic bombings at the end of World War II. This can be seen in films like Akira and Gojira, as well as in Giant Torayan and other Yanobe works.

As previously mentioned, Giant Torayan meant to be the robot version of Torayan, Yanobe’s trademark puppet based on a ventriloquist dummy his father once owned. As such, Giant Torayan is directly modeled after the “atom suit” that Torayan wears. The “horns” on the sides of his head are said by Yanobe to be an homage to Astro Boy, a popular Japanese robot character with a similar hairdo.
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source: hifructose
Kenji Yanobe is an artist that expresses great interest in the various functions of art in society. For a long time the central theme of his imaginative and large scale installations has been the dangers of nuclear power. The recent Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan adds new relevance to his work. His figure Sun Child was recently installed in the gardens of Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum in Tokyo’s Minami Aoyama district. The enormous figure is dressed in a bright yellow hazmat suit and is depicted wearing a Geiger-counter. Yanobe’s work is an open ended dialogue about the natural “true sun” and the “fake sun” of nuclear power. His work often includes industrial elements such as steel, plastic, rubber, and even a water-Tesla coil. Watch the following video to see a brief chronology his work including the assembly of Sun Child.
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source: azito-art

This mini Giant Torayan is a miniature sculpture of Kenji Yanobe’s gigantic robot “Giant Torayan” that looms high above the viewer .

Kenji Yanobe Giant Torayan “Ginat Torayan” is the ultimate child’s weapon, as it sings, dances, breathes fire, and follows only those orders given by children. It playfully allows the child to experience the responsibilities and excitement of controlling machines.

You can see how huge and powerful it is.

This mini Giant Torayan does not fire but its form is made very much similar to the original Giant Torayan.

Although Kenji Yanobe’s work is very visually alluring, all of his choices are pragmatically dictated and streamlined to create machines of survival; survival of the end of the world.
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source: peoplecheckde
Kenji Yanobe (jap. ヤノベ ケンジ, Yanobe Kenji, eigentlich 矢延 憲司, Yanobe Kenji; * 1965 in der Präfektur Ōsaka) ist ein japanischer Künstler. Kenji studierte an der Städtischen Kunsthochschule Kyōto.
Sein Werk ist beeinflusst von den Nachwirkungen der Expo ’70 und der Otaku-Kultur, sowie von visionäreren Zukunftsträumen die ab den 1970ern immer mehr zerplatzen. (Ölkrise, Umweltproblematik, Kalter Krieg, Scheitern der Eroberung des Weltalls und der friedlichen Nutzung der Atomkraft durch den Absturz der Challenger OV-99 bzw. der Katastrophe von Tschernobyl).
Seine Arbeiten thematisieren Möglichkeiten des Überlebens in einer postatomaren Welt. Er erschafft eine absurd ironische Maschinenwelt aus kinetischen Objekten, die sowohl nützliche Geräte als auch Kriegsmaschinen sein könnten. Sie wirken wie Retrodesign, haben den Charme der 50er und sind doch Science Fiction. Die Tatsache, dass die Skulpturen nicht nur „Bilder“ von Maschinen sind, sondern auch tatsächlich funktionieren, macht sie auf beklemmende Weise zu unseren Stellvertretern. Yanobe sagt uns auf ironische Weise, dass wir bereits seit längerer Zeit in der Zukunft leben (ruinierte strahlenverseuchte Zukunft nicht nur in Tschernobyl/Fukushima, sondern auch überall: chemische Stoffe, elektromagnetische Wellen). 1997, elf Jahre nach der Reaktorkatastrophe, besucht er mit dem von ihm entwickelten Schutzanzug Atom Suit bekleidet die Ruinen Tschornobyls. Kenji Yanobe nahm an der Melbourne International Biennial 1999 teil.
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source: dbpedia
L’artiste japonais Kenji Yanobe (ヤノベケンジ Yanobe Kenji) est connu pour ses œuvres optimistes bien que cauchemardesques. Ses sculptures simulent des produits de consommation, destinés à survivre après un holocauste nucléaire. Les sculptures de Kenji Yanobe s’inscrivent dans l’esprit d’une esthétique moderne de consommation japonaise. Ses œuvres, qui représentent souvent des robots, semblent être les produits de la conception industrielle la plus moderne: couleurs vives, métal poli, et finition brillante. Toutefois, ils trahissent la peur d’une guerre nucléaire. Kenji Yanobe a réalisé des expositions à travers le monde, notamment aux États-Unis, en Europe et au Japon. Son œuvre était présente à Expo 70, à Osaka, au Japon.
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source: relational-tourismjp

1965年、大阪生まれ。90年初頭より「サヴァイヴァル」をテーマに大型機械彫刻を制作。97年にチェルノブイリを訪問する「アトムスーツ・プロジェクト」を行うなど社会的メッセージを含む作品群は国内外で評価が高い。2009年には大阪を舞台にした「水都大阪2009」にて火を噴く巨大ロボット「ラッキードラゴン」「ジャイアント・トらやん」などを発表。同年大阪文化賞受賞。 2012年には震災復興を掲げるモニュメントとして巨大な子ども像「サン・チャイルド」を制作。福島を始め大阪、モスクワ、イスラエル等世界各地に設置している。