youki hirakawa

Hot Spring

Hot Spring / 2024

Censored Imported Porn-Magazine from 1960s-70s, Silver Paint

The artwork "Hot Spring/2024," created using black-painted pornographic magazines imported from the United States in the 1960s to 70s, reflects the artist's distorted longing for Western culture formed during their youth. During the 1970s, under the structure of the Cold War, Japan—geographically positioned at the frontlines—experienced a massive influx of American culture, one example of which was the so-called pornographic magazines.Some parts of the black paint have been scraped away by the hands of magazine purchasers, allowing glimpses of the original images. The artist says they perceived a connection between the visual desire and eros inherent in art. Historically in Japan, attitudes towards sexuality, including mixed bathing and erotic prints, were relatively open, but the spread of Western values through modernization since the Meiji era expanded to Japan. This artwork evokes various thoughts, including the history of sexuality in Japan and the West, the longing for Western culture, continuing taboos in modern society, the desire to "see," and censorship. The pornographic magazines, painted silver by the artist while leaving some parts black, reflect light and appear in the space as "Hot Spring" of youth.