Aoki's lecture, artwork challenges social norms
By Molly Gore
At first glance, Katherine Aoki's artwork might seem to belong in the pastel pages of a children's storybook, or in the periwinkle squares of a baby's quilt. Looking closer, her images are not for children. With an understanding of each piece's backstory, Aoki's work becomes a humorous yet effective feminist critique of the media's message to girls.
Opening her lecture titled "Conquering the Cute" at the de Saisset Museum on Tuesday, Aoki, an art professor, discussed social commentary in several of her series. The presentation began with one of her earlier pieces, a cutout of two men dressed in aprons, holding kitchen utensils and bragging on the phone to each other about their new aprons and vacuum cleaners.
"The reason it's humorous is because we don't expect to see men in these roles. But then when you think about it, there's something wrong," said Aoki.
Next, Aoki presented a series themed around women using tools, including a set of linoleum cutouts titled, "Goldie Locks and the Three Drills."
The series satirizes the idea of tools as symbols of virility and manhood. The pieces echoed images like "Rosie the Riveter" and vintage pin-ups.
"It is a familiar format that would lure in the viewer. In addition to color, pattern and humor, the viewer wouldn't be afraid to approach this piece, even though it addresses these gender issues which usually people don't like to think about," said Aoki.
Aoki then spoke about her work inspired by the television series, "The Powerpuff Girls." She focused on the idea that the girls' city-rescuing powers were not inherent but chemical-induced, and there remained the presence of a male caretaker figure.
Aoki responded to this social sentiment in her next series, centered around women as superheroes based on their job skills. The series of linoleum cuts features such figures as "Hydraulic Excavator Girl," among others.
Following the conclusion of the superwomen series, Aoki spoke about the media's message to girls in teen magazines. Coming upon merchandise like the provocative "Bratz" dolls that are advertised to children, Aoki found a new mission.
"Obviously there is this message that girls are supposed to be sexy, cute and meek, and so I was going to address that in my work," said Aoki.
Her next series, themed around the construction of girlhood, investigates the world in which little girls are brought up and the images and messages that impact them. "It's really an allegory for how the media affects girls," said Aoki.
The pieces in the series feature three protagonists.
"There are construction girls, who represent the media, the bears who represent regular girls, and then the lambs that are these golden calf, holy cow kind of creatures who wander around and people take care of them and feed them cupcakes and they watch as much TV as they want," said Aoki.
Now there's an allegory.
In many of the images, the girls are harvesting the teddy bears and altering them with uniform "makeovers," after which the bears are skinnier, their mouths are gone, and they are only allowed to drink bottled water and eat Luna bars.
It is not until the end of the series that Aoki's bears begin resisting. In her installation piece featured in the faculty exhibition on display in the de Saisset Museum, the bears appear with crossbows dipped in make-up remover and cold cream aimed at the little girls mounted on pastel ponies.
"I hope that if people can look at the work and recognize that there is something wrong with the system, they would be more alert as they go off into the world, and look a little more closely at the images that bombard them," Aoki said.
Contact Molly Gore at (408) 551-1918 or mgore@scu.edu.