I ♥ Kado Hiromi

How awesome is the work of Hiromi Kado? I stumbled across it via Bonjour Johanna and fell in love with all the illustrations on the site immediately. So neat! You can see even more here.

Mirrorball

It's all the same person!! School girls and teacher included! When I first stumbled across the works of Tomoko Sawada I was amazed. Her unending variance of looks made my mind boggle. The 400+ looks began with Sawada's self proclaimed inferiority complex and a fascination with how she could aesthetically transform through photography."As I looked at my pictures again and again, the gap between my real image and my image in a picture widened. In other words, my appearance could be changed easily, but my personality did not change." 

Her work emphasizes the emerging norms for woman in Japanese society which are diversifying further each day. Before I came to Japan I had two vague ideas in my mind; traditional demure kimono wearing women and crazy outlandish Harajuku girls. Sawada embraces all gender stereotypes- the giggling school girl, beauty pageant contestant, stern police woman or a hopeful young lady posing for omiai to name a few. In turning chameleon Sawada's variances can be found in subtle details like a facial expression, posture or a kg or rwo lost or gained. Then there are the more obvious transformations; a haircut, a costume and make up application.

So amazing. Two great articles on her can be found here and here.

Trust in your own greatness

Collage, illustration and painting by Wes Lang

All that glitters

Confetti System has been doing the rounds on the internet but I had to post as I so so want a garland to adorn my apartment wall. I love the idea of every day being a celebration and decorating ones space in such a festive manner. Confetti System is the brain child of Nicholas Andersen and Julie Ho, a duo working as artists, stylists, and designers. Their creations are made from various simple materials like tissue paper, cardboard and silk. Their studio was featured on the Selby, it looks like a great place to work. Speaking of the Selby, here is a inspirational video he made. Yum!

Cradle stories

Commenting on the self destruction and debauchery of our 'troubled youth' Lucas Soi shys away from nothing. Intensely detailed with pen and ink it's probably not something you want to buy your mum for Christmas. At first it seems like your standard 'bored teenagers looking for fun' until images slowly take a turn towards downright scary and reminiscent of something from the Salem witch trials. Depicting the restlessness of teens and a bored suburban upbringing Soi pinpoints the warped reality of youth.

Sound and vision

Theo Altenberg

Chilly days

Sorry I have been out of action for a while. The weather has just started to get a bit cold and drizzly which is making me want to hide under layers of duvets and not do much at all. I wish the weather didn't affect me so much. 

On the bright side the local onsen (nudey baths) have become a haven of warmth and I can finally wear my spectacular fur hat outside without feeling overly ridiculous. I know that winter and snow is just around the corner. 

I have never lived in such a cold climate before so I'm not sure how I am going to find it. Pluses include rugging up warm, winter festivals, making snow angels and skiing every weekend. Minuses include the all encompassing coldness that strikes to the core, the need to eat spicy hot delicious (fattening) ramen every day and the fear I am going to burn myself alive courtesy of my fancy new kerosene heater. 

I hope you had an amazing Halloween, I dressed as an evil swan. I feel the evilness of swans is definitely underrated. Speaking of swans Black Swan looks amazing. Can't wait!

All this hibernation has meant I have been devouring quite a few amazing Japanese interior design/fashion magazines that I will put scan on the blog TONIGHT.

I'm off to Taiwan tomorrow with some friends and am extremely excited about trawling the night markets, lounging on the beach and drinking bubble tea.  Alas no blogging for a week or so but then I promise an onslaught of Taiwanese photos. I am quite intrigued as to what it's going to be like because I know so little about the place.

I hope yours is a bearable Monday and you're not still suffering from the remnants of a halloween hangover. I know I am! :)

Paintings by Ben Reeves

The feast

Art 21. A great website.

"Ford’s meticulous paintings satirise the history of colonialism and the continuing impact of slavery and other forms of political oppression on today’s social and environmental landscape. Each painting is as much a tutorial in flora and fauna as it is as a scathing indictment of the wrongs committed by nineteenth-century industrialists or, locating the work in the present, contemporary American consumer society. An enthusiast of the watercolors of John James Audubon, Ford celebrates the myth surrounding the renowned naturalist-painter while simultaneously repositioning him as an infamous anti-hero who, in reality, killed more animals than he ever painted. Each of Ford’s animal portraits doubles as a complex, symbolic system, which the artist layers with clues, jokes, and erudite lessons in colonial literature and folktales."

Durer

Two years ago I was walking across the car park opposite my parents house when I found an outstretched decapitated wing much like Durer's rendition above. It was so strange. Where had it come from? And why was there just a wing? What happened to the poor bird? 

Durer has never failed to amaze me with his attention to detail, something I am entirely incapable of due to my lack of patience. To be precise is one thing, Durer also depicted what he saw with emotion. He favoured neither the beautiful or ugly. Anything that was honest was worthy of depiction. His drawing of his mother, above, is one of his best. While she is clearly ugly, old and tired she has been drawn truthfully and with love and adoration without shying away from how harsh her life had been. When I first saw her I was repulsed. Like most good things, she's grown on me.