Time Bokan-Red

二十多年來，村上隆一直使用幾乎相同的花朵圖案，希望將這一廣受大眾喜愛標誌性圖案普及成人所共知的藝術元素。此外，他於Time Bokan系列作品中首次使用骷髅图案，靈感来自1970年代日本同名動畫中的壞人爆炸後重生的骷髅型蘑菇雲朵，細看會發現骷髏的眼睛由村上隆代表性小花組成，很容易讓人迷失在那絢爛的眼睛中，這是村上隆呼應戰爭省思的系列作品。

二戰的戰敗對於日本來說代表著文化身份以及強權的地位的喪失；而在村上隆Time Bokan畫作中便描繪著具代表性的戰爭符號。核彈以及蕈狀雲代表著死亡以及痛苦，但不同於Andy Warhol的Death in America，村上隆在Time-Bokan中的將蕈狀雲塑造成具卡通感的臉孔，與背景著鮮明的色彩形成對比，於眼眶中充滿著代表希望的細緻小花，即便蕈狀雲的骷髏的形象仍是死亡的象徵，但村上隆所擅長的鮮明色彩以及動漫的元素卻讓畫作顯得可愛。Time Bokan來自與村上隆幼時看的同名卡通，在每一集的結尾壞人的戰敗總會伴隨著爆炸，不過在下一集卻總是會完好如初地出現。也因此Time-Bokan所呈現的並非死亡的黑暗面，而是在毀壞之後的重生，同時也代表著日本在二戰之後面對戰敗的態度，仿彿透過卡通看世界。

In the aftermath of WWII, for Japanese people the defeat is the signification of not only Japan's loss of cutural identity but also the that of its supreme power. Takashi put two symbols of the war in his work: the nuclear bomb and the mushroom is the representation of death and suffering. The means of presentation Takashi chose to display the Time Bokan series is not unlike that of Andy Warhol's Death in America, only in a way that is much more vibrant and, in a way, cute. The mushroom cloud has a cartoonish complexion and carefully crafted flowers, which signify hope and rebirth, in its sockets. The color of the cloud and the background form a stark contrast against each other. 

The inception of the Time Bokan series derives from the same titled catoon Takashi had seen as a child. At the end of each episode, the bad guys would always be defeated and then fled in a commotion of an explosion. But then in the following episode they would always show up perfectly in one piece and with renewed strength and scheme.Despite the signification of the skull-like mushroom cloud, what Time Bokan presents is anything but death. It is the image of rebirth after destruction, which also portrayed the spirit of Japanese people after the war- life after death, a world seen through the cartoon world.