What do the films of Hayao Miyazaki mean to you? I remember them as some of my first exposures to Japanese art and culture beyond whatever garbage came out of school textbooks – works that sparked an interest that has had me digging into history, folklore, manga, anime, fashion, landscape design, food/cooking techniques, and basically anything else I could get my hands on since I first watched Princess Mononoke in 2000.

Alas, I am not one of the incredibly talented people who can express their emotions via visual arts. Words, sure, I’m pretty good with those, but I am at best an extremely mediocre painter, an admittedly terrible sculptor, and my attempts at print making most often result in indefinable blobs. Thank goodness there are more talented folx than me.

SAN by Adam Caldwell. Meisha Mock designer and model.

And how fortunate we all are that Spoke Art Gallery inaugurated a new annual tradition in 2017 when they hosted the first salon-style exhibition of art inspired by the films of Hayao Miyazaki. The show included works done in every medium imaginable – everything from watercolor to metal work to collage to fiber work – in every style imaginable, from traditional Japanese prints to pop to oil portraiture to tattoo-style neon dreamscapes.

Refusing to be contained by geography, 2018 saw the show held in New York, and in 2019, Honolulu hosted the exhibition. Where it will appear next is anyone’s guess, but there is no shortage of gorgeous tributes to the master waiting for their opportunity to find an audience.

“Of course,” Ken Harman Hashimoto, curator of the exhibition, writes in the introduction to My Neighbor Hayao, “the creatures, gods, heroines, forests, flying machines, and spirits that you’ll encounter here are not identical to the ones you may remember. Some of the works shown are more literal and representational, characters you know and love albeit depicted through a new medium…”

KIKI by Allison Reimold

Of course, that’s the nature of fan art, isn’t it? A beloved character, sometimes an entire story, gets reinterpreted through the filter of someone who loves it enough to put their time and energy and talent into creating something beautiful in tribute. Sharing their skills and vision with other fans who may share their lens or may be using a different one but who love the progenitor work as much as that first artist does.

At the same time, the same scene or character can generate an infinite number of interpretations or incarnations, which is a truly remarkable thing. Because despite the limiting, reductive baggage that often comes with the term, there are as many types of fan art as there are stories in the world. And My Neighbor Hayao is a reminder of the magnificence of the artistic mind and the breadth of its creative skill – how each of us has has the ability to take what we need from the gifts given to us by those who came before and still remain part of the collective.

The lists of artists who have contributed to the yearly exhibitions, and whose works are featured in My Neighbor Hayao, are as diverse as the works they produced. Some are well known; some produce art simply because they love it. There are graphic designers, comic artists, painters, fiber artists, those with an eye for the erotic, and those who prefer horror. There are stickers, collages, Sculpe, tarot cards, and large installation pieces, yet all the works are united in having been inspired by the work of a single individual: a remarkable achievement for a man who is, himself, an artist.

It is quite a legacy.

LUV MY NEIGHBOR by Mimi Yoon

I own a lot of art books. Part of that comes from having been an art history minor so I’m in the habit of acquiring them. Much of it comes from the fact that I love ancient and antique jewelry and frescoes and Louis XVI furniture and Sikh turban pins and Laliqué, and on and on. As much as I’d like to live in a museum or art gallery, I don’t. I love all of my art books (they’re expensive so, you know… I better), but My Neighbor Hayao is, I think, my new favorite. There’s something very visceral and honest about the art in this book. It’s a tribute to a creator who was so honest with those who participated in his own art. I will definitely treasure it.

My Neighbor Hayao: Art Inspired by the Films of Miyazaki from Abrams Books is out today.