Cool Hunting
Gum Ball machines, Axl Rose, and ice skaters - sometimes all within one composition- are among the many subjects in Japanese-born Etsu Meusy's work. The Vancouver-based artist's nostalgia-tinged 70s and 80s pop cultural pastiches have found a home in the pages of Nylon, Tokion, and Faesthetic among others, but her take on the Tenugui, available through Giant Robot is what captivated us recently. Her design for the multi-use Japanese cloths (they've been in use since the 8th century) is a dreamy, fairytale-like scene that includes a girl peering out a window, a bowl of soup, and a volcano. The result is a flowing free-form aesthetic that looks something like an updated woodblock print. Printed by a traditional Tenugui maker in Japan, only a very limited number of these were made.
Digital prints of her work are available on her site and you can get her tees via 2k. Watch out for a new tropical looking "Lilikoi" tee within the next month.
Mandala, a Sanskrit word of Hindu origin, most often refers to a symmetrical detailed pattern representing the universe and the unconscious self. In some religions it serves as an aid in meditation or to establish a sacred space as well. For Japanese artist Mario Tauchi, who illustrated 108 black-and-white versions of Mandalas for Trolley Book's "Mario Mandala." the motif plays a slightly different role....
Believe in the power of bread. That was the idea behind Japanese artist Tatsumi Orimoto's "Bread Man" performance art series in the '90s. Meant as a unifying symbol of communication, he made his name with the body of work which involved global travel to places like Nepal and Germany with loaves of bread tied around his head while a puzzled public looked or laughed...
If we had a third thumb, we'd give Kumi Yamashita three thumbs up. The Japanese artist creates stunning visual effects with lighting and simple forms, like letters of the alphabet, children's blocks and shoeprints. Yamashita finds the rare balance between beauty and brains....
First organized in Japan more than six years ago, the Geisai art fair (derived from the Japanese word for "art festival") has since become a bi-annual event helping up-and-coming Japanese artists to exhibit their work internationally. And now, with a stateside version in the works, it's a rare opportunity to see new talent, many who are showing for the first time off the island....
Located in southern Japan, around 8,000 Inakadate residents work together to create giant figurative pictures by carefully planting different varieties of rice, sometimes stretching across multiple farming fields. Since 1993 the residents have taken it upon themselves to select different themes each year. This year the farmers are using the green phase of the rice cultivation to depict motifs of Hokusai's 36 views of...
Craftsman Takeji Nakagawa, aka "Take-G," doesn't simply make "toys." Rather, he creates tributes to childhood, nature and the future. The artisan crafts things like animals and futuristic robots out of four types of wood: keyaki (a Japanese tree of the genus Zelkova), teak, walnut and white ash. These four types of wood are joined through a traditional handicraft process called yosegi-mokuzougan (joined wooden block...
Nikicio Clothing
Nuun Hydrations Tablets
The Spaceman Watches of 1972-77
Fergus Brown
New York: Magnum Edition
The Invisible: Monster's Waltz
Daze: South Bronx to Naples
Pivot
Alfred Kubin: Graphic Works 1897-1910
