"POP Exhibition" Masahiko Nishijima, Chieko Shibama October 2012, 10 - October 15, 2012
Venue: Art Gallery T+
Date: October 2012, 10 (Monday) - October 15, 2012 (Tuesday)
Exhibitor: Masahiko Nushijima (3rd year, Western Painting Course, Fine Arts Major)
Chieko Shibama (3rd year, Western Painting major)
POP display
T+review
When I headed to the gallery to see the exhibition, I was startled by the strange sight of leaflets lining the windows. Then, I went inside, imagining the contents of the exhibition from the exhibition name "POP Exhibition", and what awaited me was literally the POP advertisements we are used to seeing in our daily lives. They were lined up all over the wall. However, what was written on them was not the usual names or characteristics of products. For example, "'I feel pathetic' The firm attitude of a junior colleague 498 yen including tax" "'Ah!... It might be coming...' The feeling just before an earthquake 1580 yen including tax" etc. Things that cannot be priced, such as emotions, memories, and habits, speak to us in the form of POP advertisements.
As you look at these advertisements, chuckling at the way they are phrased, or feeling a certain sensation so beautifully expressed that you can't help but empathize, you tend to end up just reading each one. However, as you do so, you start to feel not only a sense of enjoyment, but also a sense of unease. What is this feeling? Then you suddenly realize. The reason you feel strange here is not just because the words that would never be used in POP advertising are used in POP advertising. It's because the strength of all the words has been equalized by becoming a POP advertisement.
The words use elements of typical "POP advertising," such as the distinctive red font and black borders. These words, presented in the form of a POP ad, are all written in the same font and with the same tension. But of course, the words that people normally utter are not this uniform. The way in which a message is conveyed, such as the strength of the message or the seriousness with which it is conveyed, will likely change from moment to moment. By suppressing these freely moving words and fitting them into the form of a POP ad, the weight of the words is equalized. The strangeness I felt was the discomfort of both words that should be strong and words that should be weak being conveyed in the same way. (Okano Emiko)
