BRUH THIS CONTRAPTION!!

Portrait of an Armoured Warrior Taking the Field by Bicycle. Tetsuya Noguchi.Painting. 2008

Tetsuya Noguchi is a contemporary artist whose main subject is the totally beasted out Samurai interacting with contemporary settings. Most of Noguchi’s work features sculptures. So for ex. you can click here to see his Chanel Samurai whose armour is playfully made of Plastic (Because Fun Fact: They were typically made out of steel and leather with lacquer too. Check out O.G Asian Art Museum’s conservation article here). 

It is particularly clever because -well I’m sure you shiny lot already know- that the Samurai is a recurring trope in fiction and movies and the like. They are adapting to fight another day, they don’t carry swords any more but… You know that kind of thing. You know that  well used euphemism: Modern Day Warrior referencing that Business person, or like the disaffected Millennial (Read:me or you. RONINS FTW). This just came to me as I’ve been clickety clacking this out but I can’t quite remember who said it but it was something like this “Samurai are on the edge of fiction and reality”.  Apt because you know they carry swords. You know what? I’m going to say it was in my intro to Japanese Culture class where we watched Ghost Dog after this Samurai lecture. Which you should watch. I liked it.

Nevertheless, it’s about adaptation and adapting to your circumstances. It’s fitting in and not fitting in.This makes my day so much.I’m truly such a clumsy clod it’s kindof comforting to see something I associate with composure trying to regulate. It’s the underlying message of you can do this too man but you know the struggle is real.