Modern Love: Ero-Guro Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art

Good evening, Darlings!

Today I ventured out to the Honolulu Museum of Art, to check out their new exhibit "Modern Love", featuring several ero and ero-guro artists. The exhibit runs until March 2015.

I have been waiting for months for this exhibit to open, since I found out they'd be featuring one of my favourite manga-ka, Suehiro Maruo.

With my copy of Shoujo Tsubaki, a Maruo cult classic.

My first exposure to Suehiro Maruo was on Tumblr about five years ago. Though I was initially repelled by the gruesome art style and scenes it depicted, it slowly entranced me. Shoujo Tsubaki became my personal favourite, and I have even cosplayed the main character, Midori.

As Midori, at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.

After my obsession with Maruo, my curiosity for guro manga led me to the cult classic "Litchi Hikari Club", theatre productions from Tokyo Grand Guignol, and various other 'grotesque' artists.

Without further ado, let me tell you a bit about the exhibit at HMA.

The exhibit is closed off by a rolling red screen door, since it is an 18+ exhibit. The walls are decorated with life-size prints from shunga paintings, with framed works by individual artists, and sometimes, related manga books in shadow boxes on display. On the walls, there are iPads loaded with the manga translated in English, so you can read the chapters.

A wall featuring the manga "Sakuran", a popular erotic manga that is also a successful film starring Anna Tsuchiya.

Aside from the Maruo collection, one of my favourite installments was this shadowbox featuring candid snapshots of girls, called "Tokyo Amour".

The artist, Yonehara Yasumasa was apparently a longtime resident of the Harajuku district of Tokyo, and has been actively involved in promoting Japanese street fashion and Harajuku culture. Some of his work will be featured in the upcoming exhibit Harajuku: Tokyo Street Fashion (November 2015-April 2016). This exhibit will also feature an original piece from the shironuri artist Minori. I can hardly wait until it finally opens! 

Yonehara Yasumasa's Tokyo Amour.

The Maruo collection left me speechless. There were eight frames of raw manga pages by the artist, mistakes, rough speech bubbles, and all.

There was also an iPad loaded with an explanation of the story, and some of the repeated symbolism in Maruo's works. It was very interesting to listen to, even as a fan familiar with his work.

After I walked around the rest of the museum, I popped into the gift shop to see if there were any Maruo goodies for sale. Though they only stocked basic books on Shunga and Ukiyo-e, I did find an interesting assortment of books on Japanese Street Fashion and Kawaii culture. I bet they're preparing for their upcoming J-fashion exhibit next year.

I picked up this one, which included a spread on the Harajuku Fashion Walks, as well as the history of Kawaii Culture.

And speaking of J-fashion, here was my outfit of the day. I decided to go casual Loli, since it was just my husband and I.

I really love my dot shantung Innocent World JSK.

Afterwards, my husband and I were really hungry, so we went to our favourite Hot Pot place on this island: Sweet Home Cafe. One of the best parts of eating at Sweet Home Cafe, is that when you're finished they treat you to a complimentary shaved ice dessert.

Yay, coffee jelly!

On the way home from our adventure, we saw a double rainbow cross right over us on the highway, and it was very bright! What better way to wrap up the day?

It's days like this that I believe the phrase, "Lucky We Live Hawaii".

Xoxo, your Kawaii in Hawaii Lolita Cherie.