In a time in which the ones that have money and beauty are the ones that rule the world, the real purpose of the human being is left in oblivion. There is a collective hope that love can turn into the main tool of everyday human interaction, but that expectation is a bit difficult to achieve if nobody pays attention to the real root of war, hate and disaster.
As we all know the human mind can accomplish big things but at the same time, it is also capable of causing a lot of trouble. We all know the names of every celebrity, their favourite food and the name of their pets but who actually wonders about the mental health of the people in our everyday routine? Mental illness is never the cover of all of those high fashion magazines or expensive advertising banners.
This is because the system that has accommodated through the years into our lives doesn’t care about how we actually feel, their only concern is for us to consume as if buying stuff could be a basic necessity for us, just like eating or sleeping. This has caused that people become accustomed to demonizing truth and reality. So how can an artist sell the importance of mental health? The only way to do it it’s by making it look beautiful. This is what Hikari Shimoda did with her last creations.
She managed to express deep feelings of the sad reality that many people in the world is living with a colourful pallet and a pop art look. The Japanese painter was born in 1984 in the Nagano Prefecture of Japan, where she currently lives. She started her studies with an illustration degree in the Kyoto Saga University of Arts in Kyoto, Japan. Then she took off her career as a professional artist and her last exhibition was held in New York this year.
In her dark series of paintings, she states that there is no way out, is either the humans or the Earth, but both cannot coexist without harming each other. The colours used in the artwork say happiness but if we actually see what it is going on the canvas we can understand how unfortunate the actual situation is. In a quick view, you are going to see charming and cute Japanese kids, but the reality is that every single one them is alone and completely desolated.
