derivative works from figures of characters. This complex becomes a complete set of method to tell stories and to promote. Therefore Shintaro Miyake is categorized in Japanese “Neopop”, following the reverent trend with Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara who create colorful imaginary figures similar to cartoon books or children’s toys with naïve-looking wide-eyed figures expressing the merge of Animamix aesthetics and commercial popularity. At the first glance we might consider Mr. Miyake’s approach are recreational, simple, common, fantastic and easy resonated, even aesthetically pleasing. In fact if looking closely, its content surpasses the simple cuteness and innocence. The cultural thinkings he tries to insert usually makes the images significant and sophisticatedly narrates his social and historical mental roaming, furthermore to the understanding of life philosophy.

Mr. Miyake’s inspiration did not originate simply from the animation, but also minimal art from Western, especially Austrian artists from the Gugging such as Oswald Tschirtner and Johann Hauser. He mentioned that during the earlier time in university when looking for his self-style, he felt not only confused but even also unsure to continue creating without strong technique. At the same time he found the book “Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond” about Austrian Gugging artists. He was deeply touched and then confirmed it as the future developing direction.

Austrian Gugging artists originated from the activity of artistic treatment Dr. Leo Navratil held in late 1950 in Maria Gugging Psychiatric Clinic at Gugging, suburban of Vienna. The doctor analyzed works by patients and discovered many of them very artistically talented, therefore produced them into albums. The publication of “Schizophrenie und Kunst” in 1965 raised many Viennese artists’ interest and their visit to Gugging. Therefore it became the gathering place of talented patients. In 1970 the first exhibition of the "Gugging Artists" took place in Vienna. These artworks were called Art Brut (Outsider Art), among them the rather famous artists included Johann Fischer, Johann Garber, Johann Hauser, Oswald Tschirtner and others.

Mr. Miyake’s creation stands on different departure with Gugging artists, however the idea of concerning art as a part of mental treatment, and their simple, inner-derived, and somewhat nervous artworks appear to him specially attractive and reflect him emotionally. When talking about this experience he said, “Artists need skill, but I do not. This is a better way for me, meaning that using very simple tools is good for me. Skills are not as important as the issue of concepts”. However obviously, Mr. Miyake’s “needlessness of technique” is not equal to the abandon of structure, but the choice of being pure and inner-pointing with awareness as the personal style. From this aspect we could easily realized that, Mr. Miyake’s created characters in the paintings from different stages in fact double function as projection and transference – a projection and camouflage of himself hidden in the paintings as the figures, and a description of Utopia, reflecting his observation to this society of mortal beings.

Lee Wei-Jing