What can you say about Aya Kondo, a woodblock-print artist who has taken staid wafu -- traditional Japanese style -- and turned it into girly sass? In doing so, Kondo encapsulates everything we love about Japanese youth culture at its best: well-mannered rock 'n' roll, cultural self-consciousness, the go-getter ganbare spirit and a willingness to steal shamelessly from abroad.
Kondo's subjects are part of the global vernacular of angst -- guns, smoking chicks and the obligatory Converse All Stars shoes -- that convey an edgy attitude . . . but with a Japanese girl gentility.
Kondo says, "First and foremost, I like to make pieces that people close to me -- within a 1-meter radius -- can enjoy and appreciate. Sometimes the trigger is something simple and personal. For example, smoking coils [instead of cigarettes] came about as I just quit smoking. The guns in my pictures are simply references from films that I love, such as Tarantino flicks."