Mori Chack is the artist name of a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 graphic design

Graphic design

Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

er, who was born in Sakai, Osaka

Sakai, Osaka

is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the Medieval era.Following the February 2005 annexation of the town of Mihara, from Minamikawachi District, the city has grown further and is now the fourteenth most populous city in...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. He is famous for his Chax product line, and especially the character Gloomy Bear, a 2 m tall, violent, pink bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

 that eats humans. The design is an antithesis

Antithesis

Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...

 to the excessively cute

Cuteness in Japanese culture

Since the 1970s, cuteness, in Japanese the noun , has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms...

 products produced by Disney

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

, Sanrio

Sanrio

is a Japanese company that designs, licenses and produces products focusing on the kawaii segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts and accessories that are sold worldwide and at specialty brand retail stores in Japan...

's Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty

is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, first designed by Yuko Shimizu. She is portrayed as a female white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow. The character's first appearance on an item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in Japan in 1974 and brought to the United States...

, and other companies. Mori Chack believes that humans and animals are incompatible, and an animal is wild by nature. This is expressed most pronouncedly by the Gloomy Bear, which is often shown blood stained and attacking humans. Gloomy Bear is also available in different colors with slightly different designs.

From the Cube Works press release:

• Gloomy, an abandoned little bear, is rescued by Pitty (the little boy). At first, he is cute and cuddly, but becomes more wild as he grows up. Since bears do not become attached to people like dogs by nature, Gloomy attacks Pitty even though he is the owner. So Gloomy has blood on him from biting and/or scratching Pitty. The Gloomy with blood is called Chax Colony Edition.

A segment on Gloomy Bear and a short interview with Mori Chack are featured in Episode 6 of Series 2 of the BBC Three

BBC Three

BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

 series Japanorama

Japanorama

Japanorama was a series of documentaries presented by Jonathan Ross, exploring various facets of popular culture and trends of modern-day Japan....

. The topic of the episode was "Kawaii", which is Japanese for "cute".

Mori Chack also created other characters in a similar style, as for example Podolly, a sheep in a wolf skin, reversing the common phrase of a wolf in a sheep skin, and Kumakikai, a robo-gloomy with rockets for feet and a soft silver vinyl body. Often, his graphics also carry a political message, as for example the drawing of the Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...

, except the figure is holding a molotov cocktail

Molotov cocktail

The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...

and a sign with the question "Free?".

His products are famous in Japan. He also has an elder brother, and a younger sister, who also work in graphic design.

External links

• Chax.cc official site, in Japanese and English
• Mori Chack on Vinyl-Creep