archenemy blog

The new Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston will welcome visitors with a mural of a woman breaking wind:

The Divine Gas, Aoshima’s work for the ICA, depicts a giant girl lying in a lush landscape. The setting seems idyllic and serene-butterflies flutter, a deer nestles near her foot, a couple frolics hand-in-hand. Meanwhile, a billowing cloudscape, lorded over by a genie creature, emerges from her bottom. A few figures sit nestled in the clouds, while others tumble toward the ground. Like an updated version of Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights (c. 1500), the mural is mysterious tale of good and evil. An elegant and energetic fusion of opposing forces—beauty and darkness, the natural and supernatural, humor and earnestness—The Divine Gas invites viewers into Aoshima’s fantastical daydream.

What I found most interesting was this part of the description:

A few figures sit nestled in the clouds, while others tumble toward the ground

So as the gas reaches them they fall out of the sky…

I could swear I did a similar mural about 30 years ago. But instead of having it hung in a lobby, I think I got sent to the principals office. Maybe mine was lacking in mystery. In elementary school a friend and I used to write comic strips with the hero “Super Snowball” (a simple circle with a big nose, mask and cape) whose archenemy was Fart Man.