Lawrence artist to speak about culture and cliché

Roger Shimomura's work reminds society of uncomfortable times.

The third-generation Japanese American artist spent two years of his childhood with his immigrant grandmother at Camp Minidoka in Utah, where Japanese Americans were held during World War II as a matter of “national security.” Like much of his work, his 1998 set of paintings titled “An American Diary” is inspired by translations of his grandmother’s diary in 1941-43, the years in which his family was detained.

Shimomura will speak about his personal experiences and observations in a special lecture and slide presentation at Emporia State University next Wednesday evening.

“I have slide examples of my work going back as far as I could possibly document it,” said Shimomura. I have examples from first grade of drawings I did of my mother with blonde hair and blue eyes.”

His “American Diary” paintings toured the county for three years in 13 different museums. They sometimes feature images of his family, trying to adapt to harsh weather conditions and the camp diet of bologna and mashed potatoes. Others illustrate holidays celebrated behind barbed wire fences and images from his childhood imagination of Superman and Dick Tracy.

All are done in bold colors and lines reminiscent of American comic books and feature English translations of the diary entry which inspired each painting.

“I am also inspired by things I have collected since the time I was a kid to things I’ve found on eBay. I collect images of stereotypes from World War II, like “Jap Hunting Licenses.”

In his paintings, Shimomura plays with images that both defame and deify Asian-Americans. He fills his frames with geishas, ninjas, Japanese cartoon superheros, chopsticks, pandas and all the other images that society associates with Asians.
Sometimes he draws uncomfortable parallels with modern advertising culture.

“In the early 1990s, there was a new racism against Asian-Americans directed toward the Japanese auto industry,” said Shimomura. “You would see car ads with pictures of WWII bombers and Japanese soldiers with slanted eyes and buck teeth running around bombing Americans. Newspaper ads billed this new competition from Japan as the ‘Return of the Yellow Peril.’”

“Now, we see this glamorization of martial arts which just creates new stereotypes,” he said. “People assume I know the martial arts because I’m Asian.”

Shimomura has taught at the University of Kansas since 1969 and in 1994 was the first fine arts faculty to become a KU Distinguished Professor. He has had over 100 solo exhibitions and has lectured on his work at 160 universities and art museums nationwide. In 1999, the Seattle Urban League created a scholarship in his name to a Seattle resident pursing a career in art.

The College Art Association presented him with the Artist Award for Most Distinguished Body of Work in 2001 for “An American Diary,” and invited him to deliver the February 2003 keynote address at its 91st meeting in New York City. Shimomura’s personal papers are being collected by the Archives of American art at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

Shimomura’s lecture will take place Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Albert Taylor Hall. For more information, contact the ESU Art Department at 620-341-5246.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>