Artists Who Cross The Boundaries of Manga and Art

Paintings that are manga:
Tiger Tateishi

Tiger Tateishi was born in 1941 in a coal-mining town in Fukuoka Prefecture. Aspiring to be a manga artist, he drew manga and contributed his works to manga magazines since his teenage years. Tateishi began creating avant-garde paintings when he entered a junior art college. His paintings, which depict several scenes on a single surface, were like stories that unfolded with the passage of time. Although Tateishi also worked on manga, illustrations, and picture books, painting was the medium that he pursued throughout his life. This work, titled "A Train in the Andes", was created in his last years.

A person on the train tracks notices a train approaching from a distance.

Since it’s dangerous to stay on the tracks, she moves off to the side.

However, the train that approaches is not what it seemed to be…

This work, which depicts the passage of time, betrays the basic convention of perspective in painting. Through such betrayal, Tateishi depicts a strangely warped sense of time and space on a single surface.

Manga that are paintings:
Yuichi Yokoyama

Born in Miyazaki Prefecture in 1967, Yuichi Yokoyama studied painting at an art university. He then began creating manga as a form of expression that allows him to “draw time.” Although most manga in Japan are first serialized in magazines before they are released as standalone books, Yokoyama has mainly published his works in the form of books such as "Travel", "Iceland", and "Plaza". Each book contains several hundred pages of images drawn painstakingly by Yokoyama with a ruler.

A car carrying men flies out at incredible speed.

Several cars emerge in rapid succession, with alarms blaring.

Nobody can hear the words uttered over this noise.

Some people watch the scene in silence, and the cars drive off.

Like techno music, time is carved out in a steady rhythm as the scene unfolds. Onomatopoetic sounds such as "BEEP", "THUD THUD THUD", and "VROOOOM" cut across the entirety of each scene, resulting in densely packed compositions that incorporate the passage of time and elements of sound. Though each panel is only one scene in the story, each has a sense of completeness and could stand as a painting by itself.

Traditional Japanese expression and manga-esque sensibilities:
Akira Yamaguch

Born in Tokyo in 1969, Akira Yamaguchi studied oil painting at university, but he was influenced by traditional Japanese art and began creating paintings in a style that he developed based on Japanese paintings. The "tessen-byō" (lit., “wire-line drawing,” sharp lines of uniform width) used in Yamaguchi’s paintings are reminiscent of the lines seen in manga. Such similarities may serve to remind us of the close relationship between Japanese art and manga.
This work, a large-scale piece installed at Narita Airport, adopts a painting style reminiscent of the "rakuchū-rakugai zu" (paintings of scenes in and around Kyoto), a genre of painting that was popular approximately four to five centuries ago. Narita Airport is visible through gaps in the clouds.

Taking a closer view, we can see a feature of Japanese culture, the public bathhouse,

as well as a Japanese-style room where a banquet is being held.

Woodblock print expression and manga-esque dynamism:
Sachiko Kazama

Born in Tokyo in 1972, Sachiko Kazama has continued to challenge social-political themes through the medium of woodblock printing. Her dynamic black-and-white compositions aptly express the uneasy atmosphere of the society we live in. At the same time, the people and scenes depicted in her work somehow possess a touch of humor and tell many stories of their backgrounds.

Jiraiya, a character from Japanese folklore who uses supernatural powers and rides atop Gama (a giant mythological toad which appears in folktales across Japan), appears to symbolize a world of fantasy. Using magic, he launches an attack.

Between the waves, we can see the Family Computer (also known as Famicom or Nintendo Entertainment System/NES) console that was all the rage in the 1980s.

People in suits desperately try to shield themselves from Jiraiya’s attack. They use a pension book and calculator as shields.

Seated in a row to their left are junior high school students. They sit supported by a timetable that shows the days of the week and their class schedule. These appear to be symbols of a controlled society.