Issue 12
Hungry Ghosting for More
By Laura Fumiko KeehnArtwork By PCP
Illustration By PCP
Heisuke Kitazawa has lived in a world without words. Born in Yokohama, Japan, he moved to California at the age of 10, where he sat silent in his classroom as English flew around him. It took him almost two years to fully grasp the language. Kitazawa graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a Master of Arts in illustration and moved back to Japan at 26. But perhaps he has never forgotten that time when he had to communicate without words. Today Kitazawa, better known as PCP, interprets the world through his bittersweet illustrations. His work is a far cry from the tangy world of Japanimation, but nevertheless leaves a distinctly “cute” aftertaste. Like his piece “hungry ghosts got in my way, get away,” which features ominous doe-eyed blobs (the hungry ghosts), the PCP cocktail is sweet with a poisonous kick.
Do you communicate between two cultures in your work?
When I used to live in the U.S., I was able to distinguish good things and bad things about Japan. Now that I am in Japan, I can see the same for the U.S. I think it’s important to see things from far away, so you won’t get brainwashed by your surroundings. All my drawings are about looking at these two cultures from different perspectives.
Do you feel like you are representing Japanese “cute” in your work?
I didn’t intend to make my drawings “cute,” but in Japan—Tokyo especially—everything is so colorful, pop and cute. You can’t get away from it, kind of like secondhand smoking.
What is your inspiration?
All of my favorite bands. Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Grandaddy, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Of Montreal, just to name very few. Movies by P.T. Anderson, novels by Haruki Murakami.
Could you tell me about your “hungry ghost” character?
Those ghosts are pretty scary. They will chew you up. They are so lonely that they want to make anyone and everyone to be part of them. But the good thing about becoming a ghost is that they are so simple minded, they don’t have to worry about miscommunication.
Where did “PCP” come from?
On my first show in school, I didn’t want to use my name because I didn’t want people to look at my name and automatically associate my drawings with anime/manga culture. I was listening to a song called “Paranoid Android” by Radiohead. So without thinking too much, I named myself Paranoid Corporation Presents, which eventually became PCP. It was several years later that people started asking me all the drug questions, because apparently PCP is a pretty strong drug that messes you up pretty good.
You’ve done work for video games, music videos, picture books, album covers, designed hotel rooms. What have you done that you thought you would never do?
Maybe that Hotel Tomo project. It just feels strange that people are going to stay and sleep in a room with a huge illustration of mine printed on a wall. I hope they won’t have any nightmares or be eaten by the hungry ghosts.
What is next for you?
I’m working on a perfume box for Kenzo, doing website illustrations, a web animation for Visa card, CD covers, and a new picture book with lots of ghosts (hungry)!