The Japantown Mural Project is a celebration of the vibrancy of San Jose's historic Japantown neighborhood through artworks by 50 local artists.
The environment is a barren, undeveloped plot of land that once served as the City of San Jose's Maintenance Yard. Chain-link fencing is now covered with more than 60 large mesh panels of color.
It stretches a quarter of a city block along 6th and Jackson Streets in the heart of Japantown.
The subject matter is highly interpretive, including personal and commissioned works, and encompasses a wide variety of mediums and aesthetics. It also includes references to the site's former life; 100 years ago,
it was one of San Jose's very first Chinatown settlements known as 'Heinlenville.' A majority of the artists maintain art studios in Japantown, have displayed their artwork in neighborhood galleries, or consider this wonderful place their home.
The Japantown Mural Project is truly representative of its own unique community and will be enjoyed and appreciated for years to come.
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The Artwork
The Wave Marches On represents the future of people moving forward. The number 7 is a lucky number in Japanese culture so there are only seven animals shown. The animals represent the different nationalities that live or occupy the neighborhood of Japantown in San Jose.
In the background I also pay homage to the famous Japanese woodblock print, 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa,' also known as 'The Wave' by artist Katsushika Hokusai. A dragon was specifically included being that this is the year of the dragon.
Biography
Contorted characters concerned with mysterious crimson wisps. Subtle skulls and masks with sunken eyes fixed on something just out of sight. An impish fellow with just the right amount of mischievousness. These apparitions and more escape from brush and ball-point alike, occupying paper, canvas, and masonite board as if they’d been there all along; creating an environment all their own.
Artist Emo Gonzales a.k.a EMONIC built this world with a lifetime of self-taught skills and stubborn perseverance. He continues to shape this wonderfully strange, yet familiar, place and present its inhabitants where and when ever possible. He currently resides in Milpitas, California, working on a comic titled, 'Gevaudan' for Ferric Press.
Japantown Community Congress of San Jose · Office of the Consulate General of Japan · Wesley United Methodist Church
Jack's Bar & Lounge · Dr. Stephani Nguyen of Japantown Dental · Kay's Shiseido · Dr. Jerrold Hiura & Lucia Cha
Contemporary Asian Theater Scene · Japantown Neighborhood Association · Union Bank of California · Chris & Minako Tsuji
Japanese American Museum of San Jose · Yu Ai Kai Senior Center · Banana Crepe · Halcrow Partners · Pan Pacific Bank · Alex Alsorady & Darcie Kiyan
Sophie Horiuchi Forrester · Helen Hayashi · Roy & PJ Hirabayashi · Aggie Idemoto · Reiko Iwanaga · Jeanne Katsuro · Tamon Norimoto · Kristin Okimoto
Jeffrey Oldham · John Ristow · Rev. Gerald & Kathy Sakamoto · Victoria Taketa · Leah Toeniskoetter · Joe Yasutake
Japantown Community Congress of San Jose · The City of San Jose Arts Commission · Dr. Jerrold Hiura · The Rast Family
Corinne Okada Takara · Ruth Tunstall-Grant · Cherri Lakey · DJ Ashford
Empire Seven Studios · The Arsenal · Sign-a-Rama of Downtown San Jose
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