FriendsWithYou create their own ultra-kawaii myth

Artist duo FriendsWithYou have a deceptively simple mission: to make their audiences happy. Their artworks vary in size and medium—from giant fiberglass slides to small paintings—but are unified by a high-pop aesthetic and bright, cartoonish creations. Common patterns include clouds, smiley faces and bubblegum pink furry characters.

Looking at their output, one might be surprised to learn that the duo of Samuel Boxen and Arturo Sandoval III refer to themselves as “The Floridians.” The internet phrase “Floridian” is often associated with crazy or unhinged behavior. In fact, they met in Florida, where Boxon grew up. Boxen’s experience growing up in a single-parent household was tough, and he believes it’s part of the reason the duo’s bubblegum, joyful output is so sparkling and exhilarating. When talking to them, it was obvious that they weren’t that serious.

FriendsWithYou has long been inspired by Japanese art and imagery. Sam told me they had exhibited in the country several times before, including one earlier this year. Their second exhibition in Japan this year, Ocean: Basilica of the Sacred Heart, is currently on display at the Paco Museum. As part of the exhibition, they created a fictional mythology book called Book of the Seaturned the earth into an “ocean” and brought mankind back to its original place: back to the sea. This mythical world is filled with god-like “kawaii creatures” whose characters range from saints and martyrs to angels, fighting against the terrifying “Mickey algorithm” based on the use of data.

FriendsWithYou, who currently lives in the United States, joined Tokyo Weekend via video call for an exclusive chat about the exhibition. They also talked about Shintoism, nature, and comics.

Sam, what was it like growing up in Florida?

Sam: It’s a crazy environment because Florida is a really hard place to grow up. So it was definitely violent and crazy, but it also inspired a lot of the magic of what we do now. We’ve all been through this difficulty, and Turi grew up in Cuba, which is also a crazy place. It allows us to start from a perspective of hope and childlike magic – to really think through conceptual art that we can save the world through creativity or positive advocacy.

I hear you are inspired by nature. What about in Japan?

Tuli: I like Japan’s natural scenery the most. I love being in the woods there. It’s so amazing and clean. Even the small town is so sophisticated. I just came back to the US a few weeks ago and I’m not feeling well. The intensity and aggressiveness of America is evident, but in Japan you feel safe. In America, everything is spiked, but in Japan, everything is intertwined.

That’s what we try to do in our work, try to bring people together for a shared experience. I think that’s one of the problems with the modern Western model – individuality has been fetishized to the point of creating loneliness, and we’re trying to combat loneliness in some way.

It’s part of our whole philosophy Book of the Sea. It takes this belief system away from humans and focuses more on nature. We find it to be so consistent with the whole ethos of the Shinto tradition and the animism prevalent in Japanese culture. We always cite the work of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki as one of our most important inspirations. He expressed his ideas in media that penetrated the world. I don’t even know if any modern artist can rival it. He and Alejandro Jodorowsky were a big source of inspiration for us.

This idea of ​​trying to separate yourself from nature is a very strange way of looking at the world, and it’s very new. With this new project we almost have this naturalistic, original way of placing ourselves within nature without objectifying it.

Sam: We call it the new naturalism. We observe things like the ocean and the sun, but our goal is not to approach it through chanting like people did 1,000 years ago, but to use all the new information we have today (like the internet) to develop new rituals and provide medicine with Intimate and beautiful visuals that have depth and intention in them.

Tell me the name, FriendsWithYou.

Sam: The essence of FriendsWithYou is to combat isolation by tapping into the universe that is there to help and work for you. If you know the universe has your back, you won’t make decisions that hold you back. We let this really impact as many people as possible in ourselves and our art.

There are many Japanese cartoon elements in it, such as “Doraemon” and “My Neighbor Totoro”. Did you make this piece with Japan in mind?

Tuli: This is mainly because we are influenced by a lot of media. Conceptually, many myths have their own pantheon, so this is our modern mythology. Mickey or Doraemon are our own pantheons that we have recontextualized. We use cartoon language because these are the myths we are taught. We are not taught a single pantheon of ideas and concepts, and we are exposed to a wide variety of myths through popular media, which can be overwhelming and confusing. In a way, we are creating a painting of this.

Can you tell us about your use of color?

Sam: We want to create beautiful things. If you see one of the main images of the exhibition, it is based on a film called candy candies. One of the things we included in Ocean’s: Temple of the Sacred Heart is the excessive consumerism that’s going on in Japan, which comes from the United States. Using bright colors helps convey your message by creating a simple, evocative emotional connection. So we’re making that connection to provide nature’s medicine in a very beautiful, soft power way.

Samuel Boxon and Arturo Sandoval in front of their installation

How do you decide between different mediums? What is most important when creating your art?

Tuli: We are not painters or sculptors; we are artists. We are concept artists. The overall purpose of FriendsWithYou is bigger than the medium. There are two camps of artists – one that is more concerned with the process of making and how the actual medium determines or informs that process. For us, the conceptual part of practice is more important. Some of our stuff might become very craft-oriented, but we don’t want to just sit in a studio for 60 years because that’s not that interesting to us. This news is more important.

We work in everything from mass media, animation, digital art, traditional sculpture – we do it all. We are really trying to get rid of the need to meet people.

For us, the interaction with the art is the most important part. The thing itself is isolated, who cares? Semantically speaking, art happens when someone perceives it. So, for us, it’s really about actual consumption and the interaction between the artwork and the audience. The participants and groups who experience the artwork are more important than the object itself.

FriendsWithYou’s exhibition “Ocean: Temple of the Sacred Heart” will be on display at Shibuya Parco through September 30.

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