The otherworldly appeal of Japanese artist Mr. and his desexualised depictions of cute young girls
Doe-eyed, prepubescent girls are still his main subject matter, but the art Mr. produces these days is joyful and innocent; even his work inspired by 2011 nuclear disaster is meant not to be ‘too awful’, he says of Hong Kong show
The anime-inspired work of the Japanese artist known as Mr. has become a lot more acceptable these days.
Gone are the hyper-sexualised images of young girls flashing their white cotton underwear. Gone, too, are the autobiographical images of priapic older men in their midst. The main subject matter of his art is still the doe-eyed, prepubescent girl, but she has become a sanitised cultural trope rather than a masturbatory fantasy.
I had no intention of making my private world public. It just sort of happened
The self-confessed “lolicon” – as those with a Lolita complex are known – says he realised about 10 years ago that the world frowned on the blatant expression of lust and unrestrained objectification of women in the two-dimensional, fictitious universe that he has constructed.
“Being brought up in Japanese society, I was oblivious to how the world thought about our portrayal of women,” he says at the opening of an exhibition of his work in Hong Kong.
These days, he tells people that what he expresses is more appropriately referred to as moe – a Japanese term suggesting a platonic, warm affection for the cartoon girls.