I interviewed award winning New York-based, Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu a little while back and asked her whether she missed living in Japan and if she thought her cross-cultural heritage has influenced her artwork? ‘No I don’t. I haven’t gone back to Japan since I moved to New York in 1999. I partially grew up in upstate New York, and after I went back to Japan in the 80s, I couldn’t adjust back to their culture anymore. I was just waiting for the right time to get out, and I did, and I don’t miss it. I have to admit that my genes have an accumulation of Japanese history and culture, and it comes out in my work whether I like it or not. At first, I hated it and tried to get out of it. After a while I decided to admit who I am and just let my work be the way it should be. After that, it became easier to create. Sometimes people think I am drawing and using colour certain ways to stress my Japanese background, but it is not how it is. I don’t even think about it. It just works out that way’. [see also Yuko Shimizu; Deanne Cheuk]
Also by ZOLTON
Avertisements from Playboy Magazine: Nov and Dec 1962
Our friends over at How To Be A Retronaut recently published a killer selection of print ads from two issues of Playboy Magazine in 1962. It shows that while much has changed in the way of messaging, not enough has changed by way of the medium. Read more
Anna Utopia Giordano has created these Popbottles for an art exhibtion as a way to raise ‘social awareness on topics such as alcohol abuse by teens, alcohol abuse by pregnant women, the disinterest of some parents towards their children (abandoned for days between toys and video games), [and] how far marketers can go to gain the attention of their younger customers’. Oh, ok. We just think they look kinda cool. Read more
How the Internet’s biggest sites looked at launch
How the times have changed! Check out these awesome screenshots of how some of our favourite websites looked at the very moment they launched back in the day, then be grateful for the savvy workings of digital designers. Mind you, I think the New York Times back then kinda looked easier to read. Read more
HAVE YOUR SAY
They don’t create ads like they used to. Which may be a good thing, if this collection of strange, brilliant, yet slightly off-putting beer posters attests. Read more
I have a weak spot for the work of New York illustrator You Byun. Her pastel, Miyazaki-esque landscapes populated with their saucer eyed creatures just make me swoon. It reminds me of several other well-known illustrators working today, but I feel that she is onto something spectacular that will simply continue to evolve until we’re all just utterly blown out of the water.
Says Van She bassist and vocalist Matt Van Schie about the Bush Tetras track — Too Many Creeps — from 1982: ‘I LOOOVE this tune. It opens with a perfect snare roll, and then the counter bass and guitar rhythms make it so cool. The lyrics are even more valid today. They’re one of my favourite bands of all time, and so many people try to do what they did for real. What a time! I wish I was born back then in New York, hanging out with these kids. Ahhhh!!’
I recently passed through Detroit and saw the Heidelberg Project, an amazing street installation by Tyree Guyton. It felt like walking through a ghost town that had been ravished by art zombies, hauntingly beautiful and particularly sad on the rainy day I was there. Read more
Max-O-Matic, aka Máximo Tuja, is one of my favorite illustrators. He was born in Buenos Aires and had his first solo show in Barcelona in 2008. He makes beautiful, wierd and detailed collages, which are just so much fun to look at. Read more
New Mexico group, Alaska in Winter’s The Homeless And The Hummingbirds is a stunningly beautiful, slowburning song, featuring Beirut’s Zach Condon on trumpet.
Drawing upon both the traditional and the classically abstract ideals of tie design, the Sovereign Beck line of neckwear was created in limited quantity: bias cut and hand stitched in New York City. There are just 75 pieces per design.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Francoise Nielly’s Yellow series
Parisian visual artist Francoise Nielly brings technicolour to the forefront in her latest series, Yellow. Featuring thick impasto palette knife strokes and trippy neon hues, Nielly captures the vulnerable expressions of her muses to a tee. Read more
Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more
The return of the Brionvega rr226
Italian brand Brionvega has resurrected the classy Radiofonografio piece first created in 1965. The updated version is just like the original turntable/radio unit, but also has a CD/DVD player.
Benjamin Edminston’s psychedelic heads seem to have some fearful wisdom behind their blissed-out eyes. Read more
Michelle Blade’s psychedelic artwork
Michelle Blade’s washed out paintings are deceptively simple, her washy acrylics creating psychedelic textures and conjuring ghostly figures from the past. Read more
Now this is fun. This 3D watch dial actually jumps to life. The dial is a modern version of the 19th century art form of lithophanes: carved porcelain sheets that, when lit, deliver astoundingly detailed images. When the pusher is activated, the dial springs to life in 3D, with an LED light and afterglow effect. Read more
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it's not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
Margherita said | 23 November, 2006
I love the colour