Description
Hungry Samurai is a work on a skateboard deck by Serena Gianoli, part of the Japonisme project—a visual exploration of the encounter between Japanese aesthetics and contemporary illustrative language.
Set against a lacquer-red background, a samurai with an imposing, fierce mask clutches a steaming bowl of ramen. Yellow shapes radiate from the head, stylized waves flow downward, and the lettering—Hungry at the top, Samurai at the bottom—completes the composition.
The work originates within Japonisme, a project Gianoli developed through research into Japanese mythology and imagery—from the legend of Namazu to the figure of the samurai, symbols of discipline and inner tension. The term “Japonisme,” coined in the 19th century, described the influence of Japanese art on Western production; Gianoli reinterprets it through a personal lens, bringing that fascination into the present with irony and vitality.
Here, the samurai is neither rigid nor solemn: he is hungry. The severity of the warrior code dissolves into a pop, almost comic-like energy that invites a smile without losing its intensity.
The choice of a skateboard deck as a support is not accidental: it is a surface with its own history, cultural context, and audience. Painting on it means taking illustration out of paper and into everyday life—an object that can hang on a wall or move through the city.
Hungry Samurai is part of an evolving project that also includes Pet Daruma and other reinterpretations of Japanese imagery by Gianoli.
