| Mario A -- a 'Japanese artist' who provokes admiration |
By Monty DiPietro
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"This is Not a Pipe," the title of Rene Magritte's 1926 painting of a pipe, succinctly illustrates a paradox in perception. On Magritte's canvas is a representation of a pipe, not an actual pipe, and so the title is perfectly valid. But how tempting to scoff at this, to regard Magritte as mischievous, slippery. That looks like a pipe, reasons modern man, therefore it is a pipe!
On the cover of his new book, "Mario A. The Japanese Artist," Mario A is identified as a "Japanese Artist." The same description can be found on the artist's Web site. But one would not assume he was Japanese from looking at the 44-year-old, Swiss-born, German-raised artist. So what's up? Is Mario being mischievous, slippery?
"I am now referring to myself as a Japanese artist," explains Mario, who has lived and worked in this country for 15 years, "to provoke those who would say, 'It cannot be possible that he is a Japanese artist because he doesn't look like one.' This, I consider a very narrow-minded view of things."
Indeed. And because I have never asked a single artist to produce their passport for a citizenship check, I think it only fair I accept Mario as a Japanese artist. This is significant because I believe that if more people saw Mario as Japanese, he might be one of this country's art stars -- he has made all the right moves over the last decade, and continues to develop hard-edged social commentary with his new work.
The Japan Times: April 7, 2004 © All rights reserved.
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