6 posts tagged “art”

Mochi and I are planning to go and check out the Audrey Kawasaki solo show at the Copro Nason gallery in Santa Monica. The show starts tonight (the collection is already SOLD OUT!) and will be running through March 1.

Mochi has been a big fan of Audrey's work for a while. "Audrey's precise technical style is at once influenced by both manga comics and Art Nouveau. Her sharp graphic imagery is combined with the natural grain of the wood panels she paints on, bringing an unexpected warmth to enigmatic subject matter. The figures she paints are seductive and contain an air of melancholy. They exist in their own sensually esoteric realm, yet at the same time present a sense of accessibility that draws the observer to them. These mysterious young women captivate with the direct stare of their bedroom eyes." ...That's why he likes her work so much!

More on Audrey Kawasaki on her website
Audrey's Live Journal
Check out the show pieces here.

Mochi and I checked out the Giant Robot exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo last month and I was introduced to the work of Ayumi and Aaron Piland, the "fantastical magical duo known as APAK". Here are a few of my favs...I wonder how much a commissioned piece of the Park family critters would be.

Apak Site
Apak Studio Blog

Today Mochi and MOCA introduced me to Superflat, the postmodern art movement influenced by manga and anime and founded by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

...In a response to the homogenisation of Japanese media and art, “Superflat” attempts to critique the vacuity of post-war Japanese culture, including criticisms of the otaku lifestyle, consumerism, and related issues.

Murakami defines “Superflat” in broad terms, so the subject matter is very diverse. Often the works take a critical look at the consumerism and sexual fetishism that is prevalent in post-war Japanese culture...

Thanks, Wikipedia.

The work is thought provoking and has a planned uncertainty. While browsing the Murakami exhibit today I couldn't help feeling like we were all pieces in his puzzle, we were the top layer of his work. The work provoked reaction, and that was the art. Part of that reaction for most was the drive to pull out their wallets on their way out make sure they could be associated with the artist and take a piece home with them. After learning more about the movement, the irony of it all really sunk in. That's one of the reasons why this exhibit is so intriguing to me.

Anyone in the area must go see the exhibit and read up on the movement and the artist to get the full experience. I'm going to go put my new Murakami pin on my bag.

"When I consider what Japanese culture is like, the answer is that it all is subculture. Therefore, art is unnecessary."  - Takashi Murakami

Looking to check out Takashi Murakami @ MOCA in the next week. The show features more than 90 works in various media spanning the early 1990s to the present.

Check out a video clip on Marc Jacobs/Murakami collaboration for Louis Vuitton and more info on this traveling show here.

Seonna Hong is one of the artists that Mochi has introduced to me. This is one of her paintings (I believe its called "Spring") that I have as by background on my Razr (which I highly recommend for anyone with a Razr b/c its looks super cute.) Moch also got me a great print which I need to frame and put up at work.

Here's some Seonna info: After graduating from California State University Long Beach (my alma mater!) she spent several years teaching art to children. In 1999 she made the transition into animation and was recognized with an Emmy award for Individual Achievement in Background Styling for her work on "My Life as a Teenage Robot" with Nickelodeon. In 2005, Seonna released her first moving picture book, "Animus".