Mashcomix

The Tokyo-based troop of manga artists takes over an Aoyama house

Images courtesy of Mashcomix

In the posh backstreets of omotesando, a few paces away from the ubiquitous boutiques and landmark stores of Prada and Cartier, one small building has seemingly sprung a leak. Rolling down the front of this three-story townhouse is a series of dried drips of black, sumi-like ink. A glass door laid on its side offers a small sign informing you that you’ve arrived at the Mashcomix House.

Created in collaboration with clothing brand YF and art director/designer Yasushi Fujimoto’s Gallery Rocket, the house is essentially a building-sized canvas for the 23 artists who make up the Mashcomix manga collective. Every section of the building, from the longest walls to the smallest corners to the doorframes and even the plumbing fixtures, is covered in drawings.

Following the black spill of paint that forms a pathway through the building, visitors are led past droves of familiar manga fare such as hulking battle machines, twisting sci-fi mechanisms, and more than one giant robot. Mixed among them are the occasional wobbly eyed teenage girl, a multitude of things dreamy and adorable, and disturbing, R. Crumb-esque moments of perversity.

Most of these works are drawn straight onto the walls in black paint and ink, or drawn on paper and then pasted on. Some are enormous, but often the most enjoyable pictures are the small plays on space, like a smiling face on a sink faucet or a trompe l’oeil treatment of the third-floor electrical outlets. Others, such as those posted along the stairwells, are jumbled aggregations of page after page cut from sketchbooks and stuck to the walls in engrossing layers of imagery.

In fact, there is barely a moment’s pause anywhere in the building, as drawings continually collide, merge, break apart and blend. Rather than making a noisy cacophony, however, the works synthesize into complex interwoven narratives with a satisfying sense of organization and wholeness.

An equally fascinating DVD projection at the top of the stairs shows some of the artists as they continually paint, draw, cover and repeat their work. The images they create shift and change over time, revealing not only their own process and creativity, but also forming a new kind of manga in the building, one in which time and the creators themselves play a central role.

As manga art is peaking in popularity both in Japan and abroad, the Mashcomix House and, by extension, its artists raise the bar of what the genre is and can be. By incorporating not only the structure of the building into their work but also focusing on time as an essential element of their artistic process, Mashcomix offers a path into a new experience of manga’s worlds of fantasy. The result is both a refreshing and engaging reexamination of the art form and its importance.

Further, Mashcomix House is simply a completely compelling exhibition to experience.
Maneuvering through the innumerable works in the space takes a good deal of time, but the sense of accomplishment when finding a little drawing tucked into a corner makes it more than worth it. The organizers are wise to include no furniture in the rooms, as the chance to sit and take it all in would probably encourage quite a few people to never leave.

Mashcomix House, until June 30. See exhibitions listings (Harajuku/Aoyama) for details.

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