Art and Memory in the Work of Roger Shimomura Antonio Sergio Bessa

Life is a mixed-media affair Avant-Garde, Avant Guerre, and the Language of Rupture, literary critic Marjorie Perloff dedicated an —John Ashbery1 entire chapter to the subject, noting that is

“perhaps the central artistic invention of the avant

An Autumn Afternoon (1962), Yasujiro Ozu’s guerre.”2 In an effort to understand the relevance of

masterful movie about an aging military officer’s the technique, Perloff traces its origins to the tradition

dealings with his old friends and growing children, of pasted papers in twelfth-century Japan, whose

is striking for, among other things, its infusion of haphazard style she differentiates from the rigorous

Western visual elements in what is otherwise a structure of juxtaposition that characterizes the

quintessential Japanese chamber play. Throughout work of early twentieth century avant-gardists. The

the film a series of modern objects signals the cultural latter, she writes, incorporate “directly into the work

changes introduced in postwar Japan as the country an actual fragment of the referent, thus forcing the

embraced the industrial model. Thus, traditional reader or viewer to consider the interplay between

Japanese interiors are infiltrated by mass produced preexisting message or material and the new artistic

icons such as juice cartons, soda bottles, electric composition that results from the graft.”3

rice cookers, golf clubs and kitchen clocks. Outside, Roger Shimomura eschews anything

images of factory chimneys and a baseball arena extraneous attached to the surface of his

alternate with scenes of urban life amid neon signs and prints, and yet his work can also be discussed

mixed in with rice paper lamps. Ozu’s juxtaposition of in terms of juxtaposition. The central question as

old and new might be considered an early instance of one goes about exploring his work relates, of course,

the aesthetics that would inform a few years to the referent. Or putting it differently: what do Great American Muse #1, 2013 later the films of Jean-Luc Godard that captured the Shimomura’s juxtapositions refer to? For, to quote

city of rebounding after World War II. Perloff again, juxtaposition, or collage, seems

But the art of juxtaposition, of course, is not to be “an intuitive grasp of how the world might

a postwar invention. In The Futurist Moment: be put together.”4 Born to second generation Japanese American The first in the series, for example, Compared with Rape of Nanking, the works in parents in in 1939, Roger Shimomura’s depicts a Japanese woman smiling in the foreground, the Great American Muse series might strike the viewer world underwent serious turmoil in the aftermath while in the background an airplane is in full attack. as less forceful, a mere exercise in style. That would be of Pearl Harbor as his family was incarcerated in Is the woman naked lying in bed, or sitting by her a serious error of judgment, which might be corrected

Camp Minidoka in Southern . Memories of life kitchen? Is there really an attack going on in the by a closer examination of the elements in the mix. in the camp as registered by the mind of a three- background, or is that an artwork by ? Consider, for example, the scene of two women year-old boy have been the impetus in several of Furthermore, one might ask: is the work about talking across a barbed wire fence in Great American

Shimomura’s previous works. Throughout his career, the war or a sexual pun? In this work and in those Muse #21 cheerfully rehashing the artist’s anguished haunting images related to that specific period of that follow, memory, history and art juxtapose in memories of Minidoka. The two women, Shimomura his life are often mixed up with broader reflections complex ways hinting at narratives that never resolve suggested to me in an email, could “possibly have on the rages of war, militarism, and patriarchal rule. themselves neatly. Consider yet the ambivalence been classmates before camp separated them.” And

And in order to put together his visions of the world, of Great American Muse #32, in which a young girl there we have, in one snapshot, the complicated

Shimomura delves into an eclectic repository of art faces the image of a raging pilot. Is the girl a possible mixed-media affair that life is made of. styles, both from Western and Eastern traditions, casualty in a war field or is she in a museum looking Antonio Sergio Bessa, PhD, is the Director of Curatorial mixing traditional Japanese woodblock print imagery at another Lichtenstein? Equally puzzling is the next and Education Programs at The Bronx Museum of the with manga and American comics, packed with art painting in the series that shows two cartoon kids in Arts, and a museum education teacher at Columbia historical references. One could say, a war of styles? front of a Lichtenstein parody of Picasso. With their MARTHA ROSLER University’s Teachers College. As a curator and scholar, “Balloons” from the series House Beautiful: Bringing the he has organized several exhibitions, and been widely Shimomura’s series Great American Muse, perfectly round heads, the kids are abstractions just War Home published, on the subject of concrete poetry. inspired by Tom Wesselmann’s series Great American like the kind pursued by Picasso and Lichtenstein. On c. 1967-72 Photomontage Nude, continues his exploration of the method he second inspection, however, they also hint at genetic 24 by 20 in. 61 by 50.8 cm. has pursued since the early 1970s. As in previous deformity caused by chemical warfare or over the Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NY works, American Pop Art is a complicated influence, counter drugs such as Thalidomide, made available at once liberating and constrictive. As in the films of after the war. by American media. I suggest that Shimomura’s

Ozu and Godard, Pop Art indicates that America has The Pop era, as recycled by Shimomura, strategy is closer to Rosler’s than that of the classic won the cultural war by infiltrating every crevice of was indeed a complicated affair. One might consider Pop artists that he so genuinely admires. Consider local traditions with its own brand of modernity. The that by drawing from the exciting graphics of comic for example his six-panel work Rape of Nanking utopia of high , represented here through books, artists like Roy Lichtenstein made the violence (1997), in the collection of the Bronx Museum. references to Mondrian, is literally placed in the toilet, of war more palatable to American audiences. In The work was inspired by the 1937 siege of the city or otherwise relegated to the area of fashion. Thus, contrast, works like Martha Rosler’s photo-collage of Nanking by the Japanese, and Shimomura

Shimomura’s juxtapositions tell a story, a complicated series House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home drew on a number of popular cultural signifiers and 1 Ashbery, John, : They Knew What They Wanted (New York: Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 2008). one for that matter. And its main stakes are only (1967-1972) offered an alternate narrative of the era different styles of illustration from Japan and China 2 Perloff, Marjorie, The Futurist Moment: Avant-Garde, Avant Guerre, and the Language of Rupture (Chicago: The University revealed slowly, depending on how far the viewer is by simply throwing together in the same frame the to convey the complex power struggle between the of Chicago Press, 1986), xviii. 3 Ibid. willing to go. disparate visual information disseminated two nations. 4 Ibid., 72. In the late 1960s I enrolled at Syracuse University, New York, to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts degree in painting. At that time the Pop Art phenomenon was in full bloom in . While Pop was generally understood as cool and detached, I was interested in making it hot and relevant. With this realization, seeds were planted and a lifetime of juxtaposing images that reflect both mainstream and cultural values began to germinate. In retrospect I think I was endorsing one popular definition of Post Modernism as “finding the deeper meaning of life through comic books.”

A few years ago my wife gave me a book on artist Tom Wesselmann that caused me to re-examine his paintings, drawings, and collages. Even though I was quite familiar with Wesselmann’s work, I hadn’t really focused upon his “Great American Nude” series. Suddenly I appreciated and understood that these compositions were based upon fixed sets of images and locales, such as the female figure, kitchen, bathroom, groceries, art, and appliances. Upon this realization, I began to juxtapose similar images that I had used in my own work, through the years, images that commonly had ethnic connotations such as woodblock prints, World War II, samurai, and geisha. I discovered that the level of interpretation rose exponentially, as each additional component brought its own history and associations. This resulted in endless possibilities for dialogue and debate.

Ultimately, there is no correct nor best interpretation of each painting, but I invite each viewer to express and share their own interpretations. In this manner I hope that the conversation will continue long after viewing the work in person. —Roger Shimomura, 2015 Great American Muse #2, 2013 Great American Muse #4, 2013 Great American Muse #6, 2013 Great American Muse #7, 2013 Great American Muse #8, 2013 Great American Muse #9, 2013 Great American Muse #11, 2013 Great American Muse #13, 2013 Great American Muse #15, 2013 Great American Muse #16, 2013 Great American Muse #17, 2013 Great American Muse #20, 2013 Great American Muse #21, 2013 Great American Muse #22, 2013 Great American Muse #25, 2013 Great American Muse #27, 2013 Great American Muse #28, 2013 Great American Muse #29, 2013 Great American Muse #30, 2013 Great American Muse #31, 2015 Great American Muse #32, 2015 Great American Muse #33, 2015 Great American Muse #34, 2015 Great American Muse #35, 2015 Great American Muse #36, 2015 Great American Muse #37, 2015 Great American Muse #38, 2015 Great American Muse #39, 2015 Great American Muse #40, 2015 Great American Muse #41, 2015 Great American Muse #42, 2015 Great American Muse #43, 2015 Great American Muse #44, 2015 Great American Muse #45, 2015 Great American Muse #46, 2015 Great American Muse #47, 2015 Great American Muse #48, 2015 Great American Muse #49, 2015 Exhibition List

Great American Muse #1, 2013 Great American Muse #31, 2015

Great American Muse #2, 2013 Great American Muse #32, 2015

Great American Muse #4, 2013 Great American Muse #33, 2015

Great American Muse #6, 2013 Great American Muse #34, 2015

Great American Muse #7, 2013 Great American Muse #35, 2015

Great American Muse #8, 2013 Great American Muse #36, 2015

Great American Muse #9, 2013 Great American Muse #37, 2015

Great American Muse #11, 2013 Great American Muse #38, 2015

Great American Muse #13, 2013 Great American Muse #39, 2015

Great American Muse #15, 2013 Great American Muse #40, 2015

Great American Muse #16, 2013 Great American Muse #41, 2015

Great American Muse #17, 2013 Great American Muse #42, 2015

Great American Muse #20, 2013 Great American Muse #43, 2015

Great American Muse #21, 2013 Great American Muse #44, 2015

Great American Muse #22, 2013 Great American Muse #45, 2015

Great American Muse #25, 2013 Great American Muse #46, 2015

Great American Muse #27, 2013 Great American Muse #47, 2015

Great American Muse #28, 2013 Great American Muse #48, 2015

Great American Muse #29, 2013 Great American Muse #49, 2015

Great American Muse #30, 2013 Great American Muse #50, 2015

Great American Muse #50, 2015

All paintings are acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches. Artist Biography

Roger Shimomura’s paintings, prints, and theatre Kansas Master Artist and also honored by the Asian pieces address sociopolitical issues of ethnicity. American Arts Alliance, N.Y.C. as “Exceptional People He was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1939, and in Fashion, Food & the Arts.” In 2011 Shimomura was spent two early years of his childhood in Minidoka designated a Artist Fellow in Visual Arts. (Idaho), one of ten American concentration camps In 2012 he delivered the commencement address to for Japanese Americans during WWII. Garfield High School, Seattle, his alma mater, then Shimomura received a B.A. degree (1961) from elected to the Hall of Fame. the , Seattle, and an M.F.A. Shimomura began teaching at the University (1969) from Syracuse University, New York. He has of Kansas, Lawrence, KS in 1969. In the fall of 1990, had over 130 solo exhibitions of paintings and prints, Shimomura held an appointment as the Dayton as well as presented his experimental theater pieces at Hudson Distinguished Visiting Professor at Carleton such venues as the Franklin Furnace, New York City; College, Northfield, Minnesota. During his teaching , Minneapolis; and The Smithsonian career at the he was the first Institution, Washington, DC. faculty member ever to be designated a University He is the recipient of more than thirty grants, Distinguished Professor (1994), receive the Higuchi of which four are National Endowment for the Research Prize (1998) and the Chancellor’s Club Arts Fellowships in Painting and Performance Art. Career Teaching Award (2002). In 2004, he retired Shimomura has been a visiting artist and lectured on from teaching and started the Shimomura Faculty his work at more than 200 universities, art schools, Research Support Fund, an endowment to foster and museums across the country. In 1999, the Seattle faculty research in the Department of Art. Urban League designated a scholarship in his name Shimomura’s work is in the permanent that has been awarded annually to a Seattle resident collections of over 100 museums nation wide pursuing a career in art. including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York In 2002 he received the College Art Association City; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Distinguished Body of Work Award. The following City; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York; year, he delivered the keynote address at the 91st Art Institute of Chicago; Nelson-Atkins Museum annual meeting of CAA in New York City. In 2003, of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; ; he was a recipient of the Foundation Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon; Museum Painting Award. In 2006, he was accorded the of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery, Distinguished Alumnus Award from the School of Arts Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. & Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, and in His personal papers and letters are being 2011 was one of fifty alumni to be presented with the collected by the Archives of American Art, university’s “150th Anniversary Timeless Award.” Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. A 1994 winner of the Kansas Governor’s Arts He is represented by Flomenhaft Gallery, New York Award, in 2008, Shimomura was designated the first City and Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle. 212 Third Ave South Seattle, WA 98104 www.gregkucera.com