YellowBlaze Tattoo

"Shige of Yellow Blaze Tattoo in Yokohama, Japan, has emerged as one of the foremost tattooers in the world, not just of the Japanese style, but of all styles."

I do not really care much about tattoos except when they are actually impressive as in not in the likeness of any popular mark (e.g. bacon, reddit, hadoken, britney spears, butttop tribal, etc..), and not in the form of any foreign scripture, and not in, well, any form but something like what you see in this picture. These tattoos make me wanna be a Yakuza harlot.

It is true that years will make the best tattoo look like a wrinkled old comic book, however with tattoos like these we are talking dedication and a fond reminder of how much of a badass you were, and you still might be. Follow the link to appreciate body art.

Sesshu Toyo

[landscape with broken ink: Sesshu]

This month's dead japanese artist is Sesshu Toyo.

Wikihivequeenpedia dictates that it literally means 'snow boat'. I do not care if it means a ... well I do not care. He was an ink painter and a zen priest. Or a zen priest who painted with ink. As is with all interesting personalities he also comes with his own quirky story:

'There is a well-known episode about young Sesshū: he did not study Zen and Buddhism very much but always painted, and so he was punished, and tied to a pillar in the hall of the temple. After a while, a priest came to see him and jumped up with surprise. There was a mouse very close to Sesshū's foot-- but it was actually a picture which Sesshū had painted with his tears.'

Okay, so the guy knew how to draw pretty pictures, but was that it? Yes. He did only start learning to paint when he was 32. The age when most of his contemporaries in Europe died of a plague or a revolution. Toyo died when he was 87 proving that Japanese lived long then too. His legacy seems to have continued by those who are influenced by his art, namely the Unkoku-rin School.

His paintings are considered national treasures in Japan. Follow the links to some great vintage art.

Autumn and Winter Landscapes.
Birds and flowers.
Haboku style landscape.
Landscape of four seasons.
View of Ama-no-hashidate.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Today's featured dead Japanese artist is: Utagawa Kuniyoshi!

A fine specimen of ukiyo-e artists, Utagawa's works can be found in the following link which looks depressingly dull but holds wonders.

Michiko to Hatchin

Anime!

I will cut to the chase.
Michiko to Hatchin is produced by
Manglobe which also produced
Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy.
Hiroshi Shimizu, and Shinichirō Watanabe key character designer and music producer.

Just those two names should be about enough reason to watch it. Unfortunately I cannot say more about it without further ripping off from this very well written article from "Tim Maughan Books". Pay it a visit for more information about the series and other anime goodness.

Click for posters but not necessarily art.

Clickforart is a website where you can buy original art, posters, and printed cushions (namely cool limited edition art goodies). It seems to me that it is just another good idea to capitulate on our reptilian primal instinct: buy artsy stuff so people won't notice the deep abyss that lies within your soul. The good part is, you can select it to be framed. They do have some cool stuff as the site description clarifies accurately, but I will never forgive them for making me write "cushions" in the tags box. Click the link to visit.

Bill Viola

I am not an art critique but Bill Viola's modern video art strolls on the hills adjacent to the epitome of aesthetic if nowhere else. I had a chance to see one of his works in Den Haag, Holland thanks to a friend who is doing a thesis on his works. I can summarize it as inspiring and soothing yet powerful imagery and ultra slow motion making sweet love one's mind.

Compared to eerie and lucid, almost poetical composition of his works real life seems to be a caffeine induced rat race on a labyrinth, entangled corridors full of leftovers of unlucky competants, with no end (or cheese) in sight.

Follow the link for his works.