Kaiju collector/photographer Red Yoda adds a touch of colorful madness to an awesome collection of Japanese vinyl monster figures. Browse the entire photoset for more.
[Kameba]
[Zag!]
Tag: ‘Art’
Rice paddy art in Yamagata
24 Jun 2008
Rice-growing season has only just begun, but this year's first crop of rice paddy art, which is created by planting various colors of rice in the field, has already started to emerge.
In the Yamagata prefecture town of Yonezawa, an image of 16th-17th century samurai Naoe Kanetsugu has appeared in a field near the Onogawa hot spring. The samurai, whose image is based on a portrait housed at the nearby Uesugi Museum, appears along with a pair of fireflies and the kanji characters for "Love" and "Tenchijin," the name of an NHK drama about Naoe Kanetsugu that will air next year. The rice will be harvested in October.
This year marks the third time that crop art has been grown in Yonezawa. Here are a few photos of works from the past two years.
2007
2007
2007
2006
In recent years, a growing number of local governments around Japan have started organizing rice paddy art projects as a way to attract tourists and educate people about rice farming. Look for more rice paddy art to crop up in the coming weeks.
[Photos: Asahi, chosasi_Bkyu]
Music (& film) posters by Tadanori Yokoo
23 Jun 2008
Tadanori Yokoo, one of Japan's most prolific and internationally recognized graphic designers, has created a number of psychedelic posters for notable musicians.
Earth, Wind & Fire, 1976 [Enlarge]
Santana - Lotus, 1974 [Enlarge]
The Beatles, 1972 [Enlarge]
Emerson, Lake & Palmer concert poster, 1972 [Enlarge]
Tangerine Dream, 1976 [Enlarge]
Beatles - Star Club, 1977 [Enlarge]
Cochin Moon, 1978 [Enlarge]
Holst - The Planets, 1979 [Enlarge]
Earth, Wind & Fire, 1993 [Enlarge]
* * * * *
Yokoo is also known to have designed the occasional movie poster, including these three psychedelic beauties for Roger Corman's "The Trip."
The Trip, 1968 [Enlarge]
The Trip, 1968 [Enlarge]
The Trip, 1968 [Enlarge]
Astro Boy made from recycled train tickets
14 Jun 2008
A 3.2 x 2.1 meter (10 x 7 ft) work of Astro Boy pixel art made from 138,000 recycled Tokyo Metro tickets is on temporary display at the Shinjuku Takashimaya Department Store (2nd floor) to mark the opening of Tokyo's new Fukutoshin subway line. Created by volunteers from Takashimaya and other Shinjuku-area businesses, the work depicts Astro Boy, Uran, Professor Ochanomizu and Higeoyaji (Mr. Mustachio) in Shinjuku along with the new Fukutoshin train.
See also: Mona Lisa from recycled train tickets
Digital illustrations of horror girls
05 Jun 2008
Japanese school girls take on a disturbing new look in these hauntingly beautiful illustrations by CG artist Yock (Yoshitaka Kawakami). Check his gallery for more. (Probably NSFW.)
Docomodake’s last supper
29 May 2008
Appetizing dishes of NTT DoCoMo's mushroom mascot were served up in artist Rika Eguchi's "Last Supper" installation at last year's "How to Cook Docomodake" exhibition in New York. Photos by Marius Watz.
Melted
Sliced
Toasted
Smothered in special sauce
More scrumptious photos at watz's Flickr photostream.
Highway interchange photos
21 May 2008
Photographer Ken Ohyama has a magnificent Flickr photoset of highway interchanges in Japan (78 photos).
Hakozaki Junction
Hokko Junction
Hokko Junction
Tempozan Junction
Daikoku Junction
Kawaguchi Junction
He also has a book of these photographs.
Woodblock prints of men posing as birds (1809)
16 May 2008
In early 19th-century Japan, it became fashionable for the culturally sophisticated theatergoing population of Edo to entertain themselves at parties by imitating the voices and gestures of famous actors. As this fad spread, people began to expand their repertoires by mimicking animals, and as animal poses became all the rage at parties, writers and artists collaborated to produce illustrated books containing model examples of these poses. One such document written by poet Santo Kyoden in 1809 included copies of these Utagawa Toyokuni ukiyo-e prints of men imitating birds.
Crow pose
Hawk pose
Duck pose
The work, titled Harasuji Omuseki (?????), consisted of several volumes that also featured poses for animals other than birds. Waseda University has an online copy of Volume 3, which includes the animal poses below.
Chicken pose
Crane pose, Owl pose
Squid pose
Goby pose
Shrimp pose
Nico Nico animated GIFs
13 May 2008
Video-sharing service Nico Nico Douga has a mesmerizing collection of 700 animated GIFs for use on their site. [Via Xorsyst]