There’s just no other artist like Kaneoya,” said Spike when asked about what’s attracted her, and possibly others, to Sachiko’s work this entire time. “The themes she explores are singular. The monstrous feminine is one of my favorites; menacing, dangerous female creatures, and a guy, very passive, very reticent, unwilling to fight them off or even enjoying his part in the situation. I love that.”

In this light, the way her images mix erotic imagery with grotesque concepts like being happily bitten and ravaged by a large cat, emerging from a goopy cocoon corpse body, or being aided in masturbation by a (cute(?)) spirit seems very in-tune with the ero-guro spirit and therefore critical of norms concerning gender and sexuality, and disability, among other things. The main character in her work doesn’t have a name, but he’s featured in almost every single one of her drawings. I find it interesting that while she is female, she chooses to portray the vulnerabilities and conflicts of life through a male figure, while a majority of the women are portrayed as anthropomorphic animals. This art book is a collection of her paintings until now, also with comics works that she keeps drawing, Happy Monday! It’s raining here and from what I can tell via a cursory glance of my social media timeline, it is pretty much crap weather across much of these United States. Rain, snow, wind, excessive heat, it’s a veritable feast of bad. Well, come on over and dip your toes into the latest offerings from creators across the web as we dive into this week’s Crowdfunding Watch. 1. The Art of Kaneoya Sachiko The book contains tons of previously-unpublished work, plus a foreword from Kaneoya herself. Whether you’re a longtime fan of this artist’s compelling and provocative output, or brand-new to her uniquely mesmerizing work, there’s a lot to see here.The book will also feature sketches, Sachiko’s painting process and a forward written by the artist. If Iron Circus Comics plans to continue to bring impressive artists like this to the States, well I for one am here for it. Hopefully the rain stops just long enough for me to hop on my bike without turning into some sort of mangled wet possum, which is what I imagine I look like when I get wet. Kaneoya Sachiko, also known as Yoiko Yokocho (よいこ横丁) is one of my favourite artists and I really wanted to have them included on the blog despite not being an ‘obvious’ choice for a feminist art blog. To me, Kaneoya’s work is feminist for several reasons, the most prominent being that her art seems to focus on perceptions of bodies, what it means to have a gendered body, or a human body, as well as depictions of grotesque sexuality that bring into question what it means to be sexual and/or to have a sexual connection with another being. Kaneoya (which is her last name) seems to embody the Japanese concept of ‘erotic-grotesque nonsense’ in her work which is a concept that I’ve become interested in over the past couple of years. Nonsensical grotesque-eroticism started as a social movement in the 1920s/1930s in Japan that fought social regulation, as it was thought that nonsense could evade censorship by virtue of being undefinable. From Miriam Rom Silverberg’s book “Erotic Grotesque Nonsense”, she defines the terms as “erotic (meaning pornographic, without here debating the nuances of the term), grotesque (viewed as malformed, or unnaturally unseemly), or even nonsensically silly (and thus meaningless). (xv) There’s much more to this as a larger social movement, but I wanted to simply expand the definition of the term here just because I believe we have a certain ethnocentric perception of these terms, and while looking at art inspired by this movement I believe it’s important to re-conceptualize these words, and recognize that in this, eroticism can involve anything from kissing to disembowelment, and that grotesque refers to anything from physical disability, to foreigners.

Sachiko Kaneoya artbook [Title undecided] limited edition 500 with signature (price not determined) A few years ago I moved away from Chicago, leaving behind friends and family. Transplanting myself in the Bay Area meant that I had to find new friends, make a home away from the place I had always well, called home. You don’t really appreciate the value of a friend until you risk losing the unique love, support, and compassion they offer you. Well, at least I didn’t. That’s why the concept behind the planned anthology Group Chat warms my heart. Victoria Grace Elliot ( Balderdash) has been commissioned to do the cover art and it’s as wonderful as you might expect: Planned cover art for Group Chat Anthology