Undaunted by Spektra

Abstract

Allison Mott’s MFA thesis exhibition will be a pop-up shop showcasing combat equipment and fashion accessories that serve in the aid of “Magical Girls.” Magic has long stood as an element of agency for women in art and literature; an agency that was capitalized upon by Japan during the Miracle Years of the 1960s via the evolving media channels targeted at 11-30 year old females. Takshi Murakami’s Superflat Manifesto and Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics serve as the theoretical foundation for this body of work. Understanding McCloud and Murakami’s framework allows the paper to shift its focus to art as a consumable, specifically Murakami’s partnership with couture fashion brands, such as Louis Vuitton, setting precedence for the Superflat style in high end ephemera. This aesthetic experience, follows the precedent set in postmodern work by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring’s “Pop Shop.” Finally the paper will touch new ground regarding the role of women in art and society, and the effects of empowering the individual in 4th wave feminism. This will include an assessment of the sociological events that lead the artist to this body of work, including the positive effects of single sex education on girls, the Riot Girl Movement of the early 90’s, the Girl Power movement of the late 90’s, and how the balance of intensities for these schools of thought are represented in the work in an effort to battle injustice and fuel greatness.