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[MogCakes]

I did a search and found exactly one result on this from '08. Shame, it's something I think is worth talking about.

Superflat is the name given to Japan's 2D pop culture obsession with cute things. That's an incredible oversimplification that doesn't do the term justice so I'm going to quote Wikipedia:

Superflat is a postmodern art movement, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime.

"Superflat" is used by Murakami to refer to various flattened forms in Japanese graphic art, animation, pop culture and fine arts, as well as the "shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture."

In 2000, Murakami published his “Superflat” theory in the catalogue for a group exhibition of the same name that he curated for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The theory posits that there is a legacy of flat, 2-dimensional imagery which has existed throughout Japanese art history and continues today in manga and anime. This style differentiates itself from the western approach in its emphasis on surface and use of flat planes of color. Superflat also served as a commentary on post-war Japanese society in which, Murakami argues, differences in social class and popular taste have ‘flattened,’ producing a culture with little distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low’.

Examples and artists:

Some additional links for further reading:
Hyperallergenic
Artradarjournal

I find this a fascinating terminology to the subculture I've been part of for so long and it's humbling to know how fleeting and in the moment it is. The anime/manga subculture, widespread and far reaching as it is, having affected so many lives, is just another pop fad. In 20-30 years will it still exist? At least in the form that it is now. We've seen anime and manga evolve dramatically over the past few decades.

 

[Talka]

Any examples?

 

[freeofgreed]

Any examples?

Yeah OP c'mon you know better than this.

 

[gatling]

Is Yusuke Nakamura lumped in with this genre?

I'm particularly not fond of it but I can respect the style and have drawn inspiration from it from time to time. I have a few artist friends who are bigger fans.

 

[billy beane]

I know Murakami because he did Kanye West's Graduation album cover.

 

[teruterubozu]

Any examples?

"My Lonesome Cowboy" is a masterpiece.

 

[MogCakes]

Yeah OP c'mon you know better than this.

You're right. Editing OP.

 

[meltingparappa]

Murakami has sort of moved away from expressing that idea in his art. I can't quite find the interview, but when asked off the cuff about it, he sort of gave an answer of "That was a couple years ago, and I'm onto expressing some new ideas."

Interesting to note, Murakami is best friends with animation director Mamoru Hosada, and the two collaborated on a gorgeous Louis Vitton ad, which is great because Murakami likes to have his cake and eat it too in terms of playfully criticizing but accepting superfluous consumerism.

Hosada, keeping a lot of the aesthetic of that short, went on to create the film "Summer Wars", which is in a lot of ways Superflat: The Movie, as the story revolves around a world where almost every aspect of society revolves around social media, and the main characters take a trip to the Japanese countryside for a grandmother's birthday. The juxtaposition between the modern world and it's limitations of expression and worldview clash against an older generation with a wider array of cultural resources, but don't quite understand the vocabulary of your (generic movie version of) facebook and videogames.

It's interesting to not that Murakami wasn't saying that superflat culture is garbage to be ashamed of, but an observation that is generally correct and extends beyond just Japanese culture. He's aware that he's fully guilty of it himself throughout his entire career, and doesn't have a solution for it nor is actively seeking one. It's interesting as far as artist statements go, but maybe not the condemnation that the wikipedia quote implies.



Murakami's art

Murakami and Hosada's Louis Vitton promotion

Ubiquitous virtual world from Summer Wars

 

[diggmcbadass]

Disappointed that it isn't this

 

[rexor0717]

Thought this was going to be about butts.

Well, I like the style. Definitely reminds me of Summer Wars as posted above.

 

[kabel]

Disappointed that it isn't this

awwwwww!

 

[HORRORSHØW]

don't know anything about superflat but i think i went to one of his exhibits with hello kitty in DTLA. may have been another dude.

 

[MogCakes]

Updated the OP. It's really quite difficult to describe this movement other than it being an abstraction of the anime/manga culture we've grown up with. What I took away from it is that this big thing that I've known for nearly all my life is a fleeting moment that in a couple generations' time will be completely lost and whose remnants will be the trash of an old and obselete age. Superflat hits pretty close to home for me.

 

[gatling]

Updated the OP. It's really quite difficult to describe this movement other than it being an abstraction of the anime/manga culture we've grown up with. What I took away from it is that this big thing that I've known for nearly all my life is a fleeting moment that in a couple generations' time will be completely lost and whose remnants will be the trash of an old and obselete age. Superflat hits pretty close to home for me.

Get some art books and keep them until they're brittle and the pages fall out. Feeling that it will be trash is a little heartbreaking. It doesn't have to be trash to you.

 

[The Technomancer]

I thought I understood what this was until some of the later examples. I thought it was like this

But a piece like this doesn't seem that far off from other styles, at least not enough that I'd be able to call it out as "unusual"

I get the thematic ideas the OP is talking about, which are fascinating to me, I'm just trying to get a better understanding of how I would "recognize" the style

 

[MogCakes]

I get the thematic ideas the OP is talking about, which are fascinating to me, I'm just trying to get a better understanding of how I would "recognize" the style

That was somewhat of a misquote by me. The latter pic you quoted is from Tekkon Kinkreet, a film that the studio Koji Morimoto was part of worked on, and which draws some elements from his works. They aren't strictly superflat, at least from what I can tell. Mayhap they aren't the best examples to put forth in the OP.

 

[ugly]

It goes back further, though. This style has developed intrinsically with Japanese culture itself.

Maybe the Japanese transpose the world as flat because of their eyes

Spoiler

That was a joke

 

[-Ryn]

I love superflat stuff. It looks beautiful and I really want to learn more about it.

 

[ZackieChan]

I know Murakami because he did Kanye West's Graduation album cover.

He also created Peterboy's avatar. A true artist