GATA MEETS NUGA: TOKYO'S FIERCEST PERFORMANCE ARTIST
While mainstream Japanese culture has often been considered conservative in the eyes of the world, with many of its citizens unwilling to stray from societal norms, performance artist NUGA has gone the opposite direction, grabbing every sacred tradition by the throat and forcibly moulding them into their own sense of twisted avant-grade beauty. NUGA is an enigma, an otherworldly manifestation in the creative sea of Tokyo. In recent years, the performance artist has been pushing the limits of taste and decency through their sensual styling, elegant makeup and iconoclastic live shows.
A mainstay in the performance arts, NUGA has regularly put on epic shows in the underground art scene of Tokyo; countercultural affirmations that play with concepts of sex, human nature, drag and liberation. While “queer” has been a term used to describe such personas and events, NUGA has unequivocally shied away from such classification. For NUGA individuality, creativity and one’s own sensibilities are all that matter and no one is going to put them in a box or tell them what to do.
The GATA team recently had the pleasure of meeting the artist in person, sitting down to talk to about their fascination with BDSM, the influence of Gaga and McQueen and their aversion to being a LGBTQ+ hero.
GATA: Hello Nuga! Thank you for your time, can you please introduce yourself to the audience of GATA Magazine?
NUGA: Nice to meet you, I'm NUGA. I occasionally do shows as a performance artist. I also do styling and makeup to show off what I consider to be beautiful in the world.
はじめまして、NUGAです。
パフォーマンスアーティストとしてたまにショーをしています。
スタイリングやメイクアップなど、自分の美しいと思う意識を世界と共有する活動もしています。
GATA: Nuga is a luxurious, avant-garde, and liberated persona. Are Nuga Toryfierce and Daisuke Fujiwara two different identities, and if so how do they differ?
NUGA: NUGA is like a persona born out of my self-loathing, who sees myself in the flesh, saying what she wants on my behalf. I have several other characters too, but to be honest, I want to live a theatrical life, so I think it's better to have many characters. Sometimes I don't even know who I really am, but I feel like that's the goal.
NUGAは自己嫌悪の果てに生まれた別人格みたいなところがあります。生身の私を1番近くで寄り添い見ているNUGAが、私の代わりに言いたいこと言ってくれる的な。
他にも何人かのキャラクターを動かしていますが、とにかく作り込まれたシアター的人生を送りたいのでキャラは多いに越したことないかなぁと。
たまに本当の自分が自分でもわからなくなりますが、それこそがゴールだという気持ちすらあります。
GATA: You are such a multifaceted person: a makeup artist, fashion designer, performance artist, model, etc. How did all of this start?
NUGA: I lose interest in different platforms of expression easily, but when I’m bored at home and another medium is proposed to me, I just feel like trying it out. It's not that I paint because I like painting, it's more like I have something to express and in front of me is a canvas, so naturally, I just start to paint. Whether I was a businessman or a gardener, it doesn’t make any difference in the act of communicating my essential self.
飽き性なので表現のプラットフォームにも飽きてしまうのですが、飽きてきたタイミングで家に引きこもってると自然と別のプラットフォームが提案されて波乗り、みたいな感じです。
絵が好きだから絵を描くというより、何か伝えたいことがあって目の前にキャンバスがあったから絵描いとくかーって感じなので、別にサラリーマンだろうと庭師だろうと本質的な自分を伝える行為は変わらなそうです。
“NUGA is like a persona born out of my self-loathing, who sees myself in the flesh, saying what she wants on my behalf. I have several other characters too. Sometimes I don’t even know who I really am, but I feel like that’s the goal.”
GATA: In previous interviews, you have said that although you always loved fashion you weren’t allowed to express yourself freely when you were younger. What inspired you to go against conventional norms and be yourself?
NUGA: Compared to when I was younger, I don’t have as much of a rebellious spirit. If anything, these days I try not to rely too much on style and make-up to define myself. Anyone can wear flashy clothes and makeup to stand out these days.
反骨精神は若い頃に比べて特にないです。
なんなら近頃は自己というものをスタイルやメイクアップに頼りすぎないように気をつけています。
派手な格好とかメイクとか、いまどき目立つだけって誰でもできるし。
GATA: Your shows are like movies. You play with explicit and implicit messages, freedom, sex, human nature, drag makeup, dance, and couture. When did you start to have a liking for performance arts, and what’s the message behind every show?
NUGA: I started doing shows five years ago when TAP—an organiser of a party called FancyHIM—asked me if I wanted to do a show. I've always been someone who tends to perform a lot of different things since I was little, and I've always been a performer. The message of the show is up to the audience to decide for themselves. In this day and age, when we are under pressure to be "realistic" about things, I’m always conscious of the fact that it is not bad to exaggerate and make yourself feel good, whether it is fake or not.
ショーを始めたきっかけは5年前にFancyHIMというパーティのオーガナイザーのTAPさんががショーしてみないかと声をかけてくださったことです。幼い頃からいろいろと演じがちキッズでパフォーマー気質ではありました。
ショーのメッセージなんて見た人が勝手に決めてくれればいいのですが
人間という生き物に対する愛と
やたら”現実味”が求められるこのご時世に、フェイクだろうとなんだろうと大袈裟に自分を演出して勝手に気持ちよくなるのも悪くないぞということは常に意識しています。
GATA: You’re very involved in the club culture of Tokyo, so the peak of the pandemic must have felt bleak for you. What were you doing when everything was shut down?
NUGA: I spent half of my time hiding out in London, and after I came back to Tokyo, I worked several part-time jobs trying to let loose and lose my mind as much as I could, because the world had gone insane. I hadn't been to a club for two years until summer 2022, which was the first time since corona started. I think clubbing is actually a very sane way to have fun; you catch up with people you know, and then you're brought back to reality. In fact, I hated the whole situation so much that when I went back to clubbing, I went to almost every party with a rubber mask on my head.
半分くらいはロンドンで隠居してたし、東京帰ってきてからもバイト色々して、世界が正気の沙汰じゃなかったのでそれにあやかってできるだけ正気を失おうと過ごしてました。
2年くらいクラブ行ってなくて2022夏がコロナ後はじめてでした。
クラブとかって実は結局知り合いとセイハイして現実に引き戻される至極正気なプレイだと思うので。
それが嫌すぎてクラブ復帰したてはほぼ全パーティ全頭ラバーマスクで行ってました。
GATA: As a queer artist, what would you like to see more in Tokyo’s LGBT+ community and its spaces and parties?
NUGA: I don’t have any special feelings towards being gay, and I sometimes even feel frustrated when I’m labelled as a “queer artist”. I’m just a human being who likes men and dick, but when people say things like “It’s an anthem for gay people”, I feel like I’m not only singing their praises.
I don’t want to give or be given anything from anyone.
ゲイであることに特別な感情がなさすぎて、なんなら”クィアアーティスト”と括られることには悔しさすらあります。なんとなく男とかちんちんが好きなだけでただのいち人間としてやっているのに、ゲイへの賛歌みたいに言われるとべつに讃えてない、、、ってなります。
これはゲイコミュニティに限った話ではないですが、何事もとくに求めたくもないし求められたくもないです。
“I lose interest in different platforms of expression easily. It’s not that I paint because I like painting, it’s more like I have something to express and in front of me is a canvas, so naturally, I just start to paint.”
GATA: You mix a lot of BDSM culture in your fashion and art. What introduced you to the subcultures of kink?
NUGA: I've always been hentai, so it's a natural progression. Apart from the fact that I get pleasure from sex and BDSM, I love the fact that I can take off my masks and armour and communicate physically in a real way. I may like BDSM in particular because it makes it easier to forcibly peel off that armour.
昔から変態だったので自然な流れです。
変態募集して変態と出会って変態する的な。
BDSM含めセックスは悦楽として好きなのとは別に、大よその仮面や鎧を脱ぎ捨てナマ身の人間としてフィジカルなコミュニケーションができることがたまらなく好きです。
特にBDSMは鎧を無理矢理にでもはがしやすいから好きなのかもしれません。
GATA: You have mentioned also that McQueen and Lady Gaga changed you. Currently, who are your inspirations?
NUGA: As for fashion, I have always liked brands from when I was most passionate about fashion from junior high school to high school, and I have continued to wear brands such as KTZ, PHENOMENON and Nasir Mazhar from that time to the present. I feel like I'm clinging to them simply because that was the era when my sense of style was at its most beautiful. McQueen and Galliano gave me a sense of drama, not just in terms of style but in everything.
It’s kind of difficult for me to do an interview like this because I’m not feeling artistic vibes now, so I’ll use this as a good chance to list some of my favourite things recently. As for music, I've been listening to Soft Ballet, Buck-Tick and other old V-Kei for the past year. I don't really know much about music, but I like it as background music.
The books I've enjoyed reading recently are Far North by Marcel Theroux, Seitoku by Ryo Asai and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. I've been reading Dorian Gray for a while now, and it's been interesting to get into Sir Henry as well as Dorian but Poe's Raven is my favourite book because of the beautiful illustrations from Gustave Doré.
It’s figure skating season; some of my favourite skaters include Tatsuki Machida, Miki Ando, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Jonny Weir. From the moment I saw all of them perform, I knew I was going to see something amazing just by looking at how they posed from the start.
ファッションは自分が中学〜高校らへん1番熱量が高かった頃のブランドがずっと好きでKtzとかphenomenon 、Nasir mazharとかは当時から今まで着続けてます。
単純に自分の感覚が1番美しかった時代だからそれにしがみついてる感じもあります。
マックイーンやガリアーノはスタイルとしてはもちろん、なによりもドラマティックという最大級の意識を与えられました。
いまアーティスト的なバイブスが自分にほとんどなくてインタビューが難しいので、この質問をいいことにさいきん好きなものを羅列します。
音楽はここ1年softballet,bucktick,by sexualらへん昔のV系をよく聴いてます。
わたし音楽まじで詳しくないのですが、イメージに対してのBGMとして捉えたうえでは好きです。
ヴィジュアル系って最高にリスペクトあるネーミングだと思います、わたしもカテゴライズするならヴィジュアル系と呼ばれたい。
最近読んでよかった本たちは
マーセルセロー : 極北
浅井リョウ : 正欲
オスカーワイルド : ドリアングレイの肖像
エドガーアランポー : 大鴉
ドリアングレイは久々によんだらドリアンだけでなくヘンリー卿にも入り込めておもしろくて、ポーの大鴉はドレの挿絵含め最高に美しくて大好きな本になりました。
フィギュアシーズンなので、さいきん毎晩見てる好きな演技は
町田樹 : ワールド2014 SP
安藤美姫 : 全日本2008 FS
テッサスコット組 : 平昌五輪2018 FD
ジョニ子 : スケアメ2008 EX
どの演技もはじめてみたとき、踊り出しのポーズをとった瞬間にこれはやべぇもん見せられるって思った演技たち。
総合的な美学やキャラクター構成としては、
アンリアル(フェイクではない)なDIVAたちはもちろん、伊藤高史や岩井俊二から東海オンエアまで、シアター表現として映像作家にかなりに影響をうけてます。
最近sabukaruで取り上げてたジェラードンのYouTubeも欠かさず見てて、意識してるのか分からないけど西本の着てるTシャツがコントにリンクしてるのすんごい粋だなって思います。
“彼女の誕生日忘れて自作自演でごまかす”みたいな内容のコントでファイトクラブのTシャツ着てたのめちゃアガりました。
そういう伝わる人には伝わる遊び、みたいなのこそがオシャレなんじゃないかなと思ってます。
GATA: Can you tell us about your brand GLAMHATE, and the story behind it?
NUGA: GLAMHATE was created as a means of expression, but now that I have a live show—something I’ve envisioned since I was little—I haven’t worked on it that much because of a lack of power.
This video of that show will tell you all you need to know but EDEN COMPLEX is still with me.
GLAMHATEもまたひとつの表現手段としてブランドをやっていましたが小さい頃から思い描いていたショーができたので今はパワー不足で特に動いていません。
そのショーの映像を見ていただければ全てが伝わるかと。
ですがEDEN COMPLEXがまだわたしの中に残り続けています。
GATA: What’s your creative process in curating a performance?
NUGA: I spent the whole morning and night thinking about who I am and what is beautiful and what is not beautiful, and I couldn't come up with an answer, so I ate Sukiya, had sex and put rhinestones on my costumes. I can't remember much about the show because I do everything by myself, so I'm often under a lot of pressure.
朝から晩までずっと自分は何者なのか何が美しくて何が美しくないのかとか無駄なこと考えて当たり前に答えが出なくてすき家食ってなんとなくセックスしてなんとなく衣装にラインストーンつける的な、、、？
ショーは何から何まで自分でやるので、かなり追い込まれてることが多くてよく思い出せません。
GATA: What are your visions for the future and your upcoming projects?
NUGA: I'm not good at seeing visions, dreams and hopes, not at all. If I had to say, right now I’d like to help the underrated people that I admire shine. I also think I have to work on my social life. I haven’t met any of the people that I should have met before I die, out of pure laziness.
ビジョンも夢も希望も見るの苦手で全くありません。
強いていうなら今は自分が尊敬する人たちを輝かせる縁の下ワークをしたい。
あとは出不精が祟って死ぬまでに出会うべき人に全然会えてないので、もう少しソーシャルライフは頑張らなきゃと思ってます。
GATA: What’s your favourite spot in Tokyo you go to get inspired?
NUGA: I like my house so much that I often stay at home, or I’ll go to Wahgwaan Cafe, a place run by one of my friends, who I haven’t seen in six years. Sometimes I go to Tokyo Sun Marine, a tropical fish shop, and watch the Edogawa River or go to a gay bar, find a private room and pass out to the background music of moaning voices.
家が好きすぎて基本家、6年ぶりにできた友達がやっているwahgwaan cafe、たまに東京サンマリンという熱帯魚屋にいきつつ江戸川をながめる、もしくは発展場いって個室で喘ぎ声bgmに爆睡です。
GATA: Any word of advice for the next generation of artists?
NUGA: I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I’d say, aren't you consuming yourself too quickly? I think so.
When I talk to young people, they usually have some kind of name on the street, they're doing rap, graphics or branding, but they're not really going anywhere, and there's no one I don't understand.
Maybe it’s because social media exists from the very beginning of the aesthetic being formed, maybe because everyone is cool at the same time, but I just don’t feel anything challenging, any twists or turns. It's a pity that we are shown a lot of examples of the right answers from the very beginning, as if, no, someone else is already running at the end of that rail. In that sense, I want to say that no matter how old I get, I'll always be a bit confused myself, I don't want anyone to understand me, I'm trying to fulfil my mission somehow.
おこがましいですが強いて言うならばあまりに自分を消費するのが早すぎない？って思います。
若い子と話すと大体なにか通り名みたいなのもってたり、とりあえずラップかグラフィックかブランドやってて、それも大して突き抜けてるわけではなく、わけわかんない人がいない。
Snsというお手本が美学形成の最初から存在しちゃってるからか、みんな並列にかっこいいんだけど紆余曲折を感じないんです。
最初っから正解例をバンバン見せつけられてるのは可哀想でもあります、いやいやそのレールの先もう誰か走ってますよ的な？
そういう意味では何歳になっても自分は自分でもわけわかんないだろうし、誰にも理解されたくないし、まぁどうにか使命を果たそうとはしてますって言いたいです。