after browsing for some time through forum archives, i was really surprised to find out that there are no threads about japanese art and artists. that seemed strange, so i decided to open a place where we could talk about various artists from japan. two guidelines, though:
1. let's make it a place about visual arts. there are many threads about japanese musicians, but none about painters, for example. you can post all kind of arts here: painters, designers, traditional art(ikebana), modern art(butoh), filmmakers, photographers, architects, etc.
2. write in your own words. don't spam with wikipedia links or lists of 500 best japanese artists. that stuff won't be useful to anyone.
suggestions about thread concept are welcome, of course.
i'll start with two of my favorite.
the first one is ito jakuchu, a painter from edo perid. thematically, his paintings were fairly typical of the era, but his formal approach was very unique and modern. his attention to details and colors was so manic that sometimes his works would turn out to be borderline abstract, like here.
some of his most famous works, like this one, were done by painting small 1 inch squares individually, a technique that basically predates pointillism.
although a rather unique voice and constant experimentator, jakuchu was a respected and commercially successful artist of his time.
second one is yukio nakagawa, ikebana artist. i've never found ikebana to be particularly interesting, but this guy is something else. he had an unorthodox approach, uses dead and rotten flowers or materials that lose their original function during the process of arranging, and often crosses into performance and land art. for example, here he uses a rubber tube and fruit called 仏手柑 to symbolize a clenched fist. here, a container, an essential element of ikebana, was filled to the top with carnation flowers and then turned upside-down in order to let flowers 'bleed'.
nakagawa died last year and was never a part of mainstream art establishment in japan. that's why there are virtually no information about him in any other language except japanese. he is unknown in the west and i was lucky that a kyoto friend, while one night explaining inherent sadistic nature of tea ceremony to me, mentioned his name.
1. let's make it a place about visual arts. there are many threads about japanese musicians, but none about painters, for example. you can post all kind of arts here: painters, designers, traditional art(ikebana), modern art(butoh), filmmakers, photographers, architects, etc.
2. write in your own words. don't spam with wikipedia links or lists of 500 best japanese artists. that stuff won't be useful to anyone.
suggestions about thread concept are welcome, of course.
i'll start with two of my favorite.
the first one is ito jakuchu, a painter from edo perid. thematically, his paintings were fairly typical of the era, but his formal approach was very unique and modern. his attention to details and colors was so manic that sometimes his works would turn out to be borderline abstract, like here.
some of his most famous works, like this one, were done by painting small 1 inch squares individually, a technique that basically predates pointillism.
although a rather unique voice and constant experimentator, jakuchu was a respected and commercially successful artist of his time.
second one is yukio nakagawa, ikebana artist. i've never found ikebana to be particularly interesting, but this guy is something else. he had an unorthodox approach, uses dead and rotten flowers or materials that lose their original function during the process of arranging, and often crosses into performance and land art. for example, here he uses a rubber tube and fruit called 仏手柑 to symbolize a clenched fist. here, a container, an essential element of ikebana, was filled to the top with carnation flowers and then turned upside-down in order to let flowers 'bleed'.
nakagawa died last year and was never a part of mainstream art establishment in japan. that's why there are virtually no information about him in any other language except japanese. he is unknown in the west and i was lucky that a kyoto friend, while one night explaining inherent sadistic nature of tea ceremony to me, mentioned his name.
)