In a series of illustrations entitled "Twelve Animals," graphic artist Kentaro Nagai rearranges the world map to create the beasts of the Chinese zodiac.
Rat
Ox
Tiger
Rabbit
Dragon
Snake // Horse
Sheep
Monkey
Rooster
Dog
Boar
The images shown here are high-contrast black-and-white photos of Nagai's work, which is on display at the Japan Media Arts Festival at the National Art Center, Tokyo until February 15.
- Added: Also check out the animated Flash version of "Twelve Animals" at Graflex Directions. (Thanks, Patomaru!)
Eli Gundry
Damn, thats amazing. I'm really impressed.
[]Patomaru
I feel like you should have linked directly to the flash version of his 12 works on his website which is even cooler
http://www.graflexdirections.com/project/piecepeace/01/
[]Leuriko
That's awesome! Thank you :D It is cooler, and I like that you have to guess what it is :P
[]Shay
That's really cool and requires quite an eye to rearrange shapes like that into meaningful and accurate depictions of the animals. NEAT!!
[]Trypnotik
Wow, this is pretty incredible. I'm really glad I ran into this.
[]Timothy
The Rabbit is AMAZING
[]Matt Spire
What a genius.
[]h
umm.. cool?
[]Madeline
These are beyond fantastic. Thank you for sharing.
[]ahadf
wow. that's talent.
[]ryan
Ah the miracle of matrixing. Without it so many cool figure-ground pics would be gibberish.
[]1DumBlonde
I dont get it... what are those shapes supposed to be originally?
[]MilkyJoe
The shapes of the countries of the world
[]carly
idiot.
[]david
Who's the idiot? They're continents, not countries...
[]Nick Barry
I think she was joking anyway. The name is "1DumBlonde."
[]lifemare
They're landmasses dumbass!
[]Last time i checked those islands that make the back of the sheep weren't promoted to continents.
I wonder if anyone will correct my correction of your correction of the second idiot's acception regarding the first idiot's incomprehension...
NIPS
DUMBASS
[]unimpressed
this is actually kinda lame....
how is this talent? a 1st grader can re-arrange the shapes to make the shape of an animal just as poorly.
before you say I'm not artistic so i don't get it... I am, and I get it... its just dumb.
[]lubbox
Let's see you do better, "artistic" as you are. Why would you bother to comment if you hate it so much?
[]TOMTOM
There's no law against being able to voice dislike for something. Imagine a world in which we weren't allowed to speak out or say we were against or dislike something. As an artist myself I agree with 'unimpressed', none of them look that amazing at all. Some go so far as to bear no appearance at all to the named animal such as the tiger.
You said 'lets see you do better' to the commenter, well in my opinion I don't see why anyone would bother. It is clearly futile and a waste of time. If you can't make anything good out of it, I don't see why you would bother at all. I for one wouldn't.
[]donaldosan
dear unimpressed.....good name suits you!!
[]lifemare
It's not that you're not artistic. You're just not educated.
[]Feel free to comment on the matters you do understand, but art, evidently is not one of them.
The play on light and dark values that is going on these arrangements is eons beyond what any first-grader, or even most fine arts graduates, are able to do.
This isn't as simple as suggesting a general shape. If that was the case you could just clump them all together and present just an outline of the animal. This work, on the other hand, works with high-contrast, like a stencil of a posterized photograph. The continents are the stylized shadows of the animal, and they achieve at times a remarkable verisimilous eloquence.
FancySchmancy
I agree with unimpressed and TOMTOM.
Also, lifemare: Art is relative, it's "in the eye of the beholder." Throwing your terms around and calling anyone who disagrees "uneducated" only makes you come off as a jerk. Just because the process of making these images was difficult does not make it worthwhile. Yes, some do resemble the animals they should, but most are so ambiguous it seems like the artist didn't quite know how to make it right when they came upon them so they just threw the masses together and crossed their fingers that someone (like you) would be so impressed by the few good ones they would let the rest slide.
[]Ratimak
"Art is relative, it's "in the eye of the beholder."
True which is why I would say I don't like the art as a piece to hang around the house, however, I admire the artist in seeing our world's land masses in the configuration that they arranged them in and believe it does hold a place in a gallary.
"Throwing your terms around and calling anyone who disagrees "uneducated" only makes you come off as a jerk."
Possibly but he has a more educated response than "this is actually kinda lame", "how is this talent? a 1st grader can re-arrange the shapes ..." or "... its just dumb". Lifemare actually elaborates on what they see in the art vs I don't like this.
[]Russ from Brighton
The world's made of animals? It just goes to show, you can't be too careful.
[]Harold from Fulking
Animals! Russ is right, it just goes to show, you can't be too careful.
[]Panthera
stumbling ftw
[]alfredo
UNA FORMA SORPRENDENTE DE UTILIZAR LOS COTINENTES EN ESTAS IMAGENES (EL PERRO NO PARCE PERRO)
[]Bryan
Rooster is the best one!
[]Taylor (girl thanks very much)
word up homie! haha... lots of these ppl r like "no talent there whatsoever..." but that rooster is mad skilled!!
[]asdfdfffd
they should have created a penis and had the rooster really be a cock ;)
[]person
You're a dick.
[]Taylor (girl thanks very much)
tru dat
[]Mr Chopstick
They are just incredible! The rooster is almost realistic.
[]vmburger
Apparently a few of you are not familiar w/ The Chinese Zodiac... Look it up it will enlighten you about the these particular animals and their relationship to the earth and stars... ;}
[]Evan N.
Very cool!
[]john
wow that shit is awesome
[]katerlake
The rooster and the rat looks great.
[]Awesome idea. *thumbs up*
lifemare
I'm actually disturbed by the fact that the iberian peninsula almost always ends up portraying the back end of those animals! One of the few exceptions is the eye of the Rat.
[]Something tells me the author of these images is not a fan of sunny mediterranean beaches.
The portuguese did make some enemies in Macau and Hong Kong, but come on, that was ages ago! Learn to let go man :-P
LulCow
Man there is some serious dickriding going on in these comments.
[]lulz
chris
inappropriate comment! stick with the subject matter you're commenting on!
[]chris
the map animals are an incredibly creative take on "THE WORLD". fortunately, i was able to see a similar (all cast metal) display of the asian animals of the zodiac in new york city recently, in front of the plaza hotel at its fountain, by an asian sculptor...equally creative and beautifully executed. i wish it had been a permanent installation...as if nyc needs another boost to make it the most incredible city in the world.
[]Carl
The Tiger looks way more like a male lion. ....just sayin.....
[]HSemaan
This Is Genius !
[]emlon
What would be awesome is if someone would build an app to let anyone rearrange, and post the images (though it would need to be worked out with the artist, who should get credit for the original idea, and the b/w forms). Fun!
[]Trina
Pretty clever. The dog looks like a dachshund ... not sure how I feel about that as someone born under the Dog sign. :)
[]hate
This is why we cant have nice things.
[]