superflat means A postmodern art movement, founded by Takashi Murakami, influenced by manga, anime, and Japanese consumer culture. It carries an Arena rating of 1094, earned across 104 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, superflat ranks #6,403 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #7,381 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #9,163 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #10,215 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
Why “superflat” is a great word
SUPERFLAT — [Noun] A postmodern art movement characterized by a deliberately two-dimensional, graphic aesthetic derived from manga, anime, and otaku consumer culture, which critiques the collapse of artistic and social hierarchies. From the English prefix super- ("above, beyond") + flat ("having a level surface, two-dimensional"). Coined c. 2000 by the artist Takashi Murakami. Unlike "Pop Art," which broadly appropriates Western commercial iconography, or "Ukiyo-e," which denotes a historical genre of decorative woodblock prints, Superflat is a specific, contemporary Japanese doctrine that weaponizes visual flatness to interrogate a culture compressed into a single, consumable plane. It is the sickly-sweet sheen of a vinyl figurine, the hypnotic glare of a screen filled with depthless eyes, and the scentless plastic of a toy sealed in its blister pack—a world where all meaning has been pressed, irrevocably, onto the same bright, transactional surface.
Etymology
From super- + flat.
noun
- A postmodern art movement, founded by Takashi Murakami, influenced by manga, anime, and Japanese consumer culture.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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