cover of the new edition of suehiro maruo’s “ddt” manga – with a familiar looking doll bottom right : )
i think i made this around 1995 – it’s a plastic doll bought in a market in germany with the anatomy made from modeling clay – i still have her (or him?) but now kinda unsellable – immediately after the above photo taken she fell flat on her face smashing the paint on her cheek – also the weight of the clay means it’s cracking away from the plastic (we never had feather-weight modeling clay back in those days)
anyway, the photo below was in my first book “evil”, but the above image hasn’t been reproduced anywhere (?) so i don’t know where maruo pinched it from – or even if he knows it’s my work, tho that is quite likely – tit for tat retribution for all the eye patches and stuff i stole from him, haha! – below is li’l miss sticky kiss’s homage to maruo’s midori-chan “ride a white swan” (yes, a tribute to marc bolan also) – at a group exhibition opening where the original was on show, sorayama was urging maruo to buy it – he declined of course : )
ps
actually, re eye patches, apparently/allegedly maruo appropriated the idea from another artist and repeatedly used it himself so everyone believed it was HIS invention – i dunno if he confessed that in an interview or it’s just gossip – but i guess it’s what all artists do – finding their own iconography – damien hirst’s idiosyncratic spot paintings for example – thomas downing was doing identical works in the sixties!
I only recently figured out that “Ride a White Swan” was Sticky Kiss dressed as Midori. Took me long enough!
That MUST be your anatomy doll on the cover of DDT. I’m surprised that artists don’t accidentally/intentionally appropriate each other’s ideas more often. There’s only so much originality out there and taking inspiration and turning it into something “new” expands the art world – just like your Sticky Kiss painting did.
re ride a white swan:
i added the book there, “shojo tsubaki”, just in case it wasn’t obvious enough
I too recognized your doll on the new DDT cover only the other day at the SPAN site. Quite clearly a homage, and a very nice one. I like it when this happens. I suppose the contents of DDT are the same? No extras? I have an old copy, so I don’t think I’ll upgrade it for just a new cover, lovely though it is. Unless I change my mind, that is : )
It`s just a little tribute, but still such an honour to have a part of yourself on a Maruo cover! But (although it might not be identifiable) I`m sure Maruo already had been inspired by your work before and unconsciously let some of this flow into his art.
\"tit for tat retribution for all the eye patches and stuff i stole from him, haha!\"
I think with an artist with so much originality like Maruo, it`s not a shame to take the one or other inspiration from him, especially when it`s at the same time such an underrated artist. Apart from this, is your Sticky Kiss Midori the best Maruo tribute on the planet.
Though one has to be aware of his abuttals, I think without eclecticism and other forms of reciprocative inspire of artists, the artworld only would be as half as intriguing.
Naughty naughty, Mr Maruo. Having said that, he’s one of the maybe 3 artists who constantly appropriate who I for some bizarre reason cannot be angry at because he’s doing it in such a very obvious, amalgamating manner that it’s almost become his “thing” to let people guess where the separate image ideas are from.
It’s also one of the very few cases I would say it’s a great compliment – now if he could please also start sharing his fortunes with you.
Also, look, red shoes! Wooden leg! Totally different! Me and my friends have never heard of an artist called “Trevor Brown”. Who are you again?
The contents of DDT are the same as the previous edition – just a different cover. http://www.akatako.net/japanese-art/suehiro-maruo-ddt-signed
Hahah @ Suzanne!
How flattering!
I love cats
> Also, look, red shoes! Wooden leg! Totally different! Me and my friends have never heard of an artist called “Trevor Brown”. Who are you again?
yeah, i’m just waiting for the ‘tards to turn up here (as they always do on posts like this) and tell me i’m “reaching” and i’m an asshole to suggest maruo copies
and yep, there’s good copying and bad copying
the wooden leg is funny – you can almost see maruo’s creative process at work? – he couldn’t quite make out what was happening with her right leg (as there’s a shadow of leaves or something over her foot) so changed it into a wooden leg …easier to draw! : )
I was just looking through your Babies Book which I was lucky enough to get my hands on and one of the deformed babies looks similar to Joe Coleman’s adopted son Junior. Was that intentional? I was going to ask you this and you mentioned the above, perfect timing! Suehiro’s dedication is well done. I really like the painting/drawing.
this one? – i don’t think so but did others with a similar malformation
just found this while looking to see if there’s a pic of my original anatomy doll painting on the net (there isn’t?)
Yes TB. The exact drawing in the Babies Book is the page opposite of mechanicalboy, top left. Reminds me of Junior. There’s a lot of great art in the Babies Book. Glad to finally own it. Looking forward to Girls War!
Just looked at DTT and noticed or imagined a few other homages: Frankenstein’s monster, Lewis Carroll (reclining girl), Lautreamont’s sewing machine, Andre Breton face look-a-like, and Georges Bataille’s Story of the Eye. So you’re in good company, Mr B !
DTT? WTF? DDT !
Oh this is actually pretty awesome. I was looking at the Maruo Graph 1 & 2 and surprised to see how much reference he uses, I naively thought it was mainly all free-handed. Btw didn\’t you make a bjd at some point? Will we ever be able to see it?
my “bjd” was made at bee kanno’s doll school (circa 1996?) – it was enjoyable to make but it’s not very good!! – best left unseen – but there’s a photo of her/him (transexual) in SMH no. 11, an old japanese doll/figure magazine – also a photo of the above doll too actually – and this photo was in yaso magazine (all that remains of her now!)
>best left unseen
that is a pity, i\’m sure it\’s not half as bad as you make it up to be!
Yes the drawing looks to be based on your doll but with a wonden leg. I guess nothing is 100% original and yes everyone is influenced or borrows ideas/concepts from other artists/people.
One could say the girls on the cover maybe based on Evelyn Evelyn, the cat Louis Wain etc …….blah blah Ha!!
But your art looks very original and always refreshingly different.
Good artists copy, great artists steal ~picasso.
Enough said.
urgh! – i got sick of hearing that from shit-for-brains crystal castles fans – to copy is to duplicate something exactly (hello crystal castles), to steal is to take something and make it yours, by original interpretation/improvement or whatever (hello suehiro mario) (and hello trevor brown with his residents stolen eyeball head girl up at the top left, if you’re viewing this page on the baby art web site – and his improved upon madonna image!)
Sounds to me cc types steal and other like minded artists are influenced/improve/dedicate/and once in a while worsen the original image. But, of course that depends on a individuals taste or crappy critics that want to argue on the their right to censor art. But, of course I understand your frustration as an artist. I’m more interested in appreciating great art and buying as much as I can afford and going to exhibitions to show that I support the work of artists rather than argue who copies what. Just keep doing what you’re doing TB! The copy/steal arguement continues………
!!