Yuko Shimizu on Haruki Murakami
by New York-based Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu has been featured on Lost At E Minor several times over the past couple of years. I love the sense of drama her work conveys, the apparent colour clashes that somehow gel despite pre-existing rules about their compatibility. We checked in with her to see what she’s been up to of late: ‘I just came back from a week in Georgian Bay in Canada. No internet, no cell phone reception for a week. It was fantastic! Now I am getting ready for a group show at Visual Arts Gallery in New York that opens in September. I am creating two new 40” x 60” drawings. I’m also slowly refurbishing my website here and there’. What other creative medium — outside of illustration/art – do you most get into? ‘I love books. I admire writers who write really well about characters that are so different from who they are. My favorites are Haruki Murakami and Yukio Mishima. I know, I always say I hate Japan and everything Japanese and … look at what I am doing! I am reading Hotel New Hampshire [John Irving] and Kitchen Confidential [Anthony Bourdain] right now, both of which are so interesting and fun to read in completely different ways. My studio-mate Marcos Chin, his boyfriend and I have a mini-book club now, and we often read the same book together at the same time. Marcos’ boyfriend had already finished with Hotel New Hampshire and complained I am too slow! I have to catch up on my readings’. If you teleport yourself anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and what would you be doing? ‘I am in Sesimbra, south of Lisbon, in Portugal, watching the ocean, eating fresh seafood and drinking white wine. And I don’t even drink, usually!’ Do you ever get illustrator’s block, and if so, what do you do to overcome it? ‘The older we get, we learn not to struggle when suffering. When you get drowned, the best way is to not panic. When you have a block, the best you can do is walk away and do something else. Get a good night sleep, don’t think about it’.
Tagged: yuko shimizu
- 3
- 0
RELATED
Yuko Shimizu’s Ultimate PC illustration
I love the bold use of color and dramatic thematic overtones that characterises the work of New York-based illustrator, and Lost At E Minor contributor, Yuko Shimizu. This award-winning piece was for Microsoft’s Ultimate PC project, in which artists were asked to create series of five personal works using their PC instead of their Mac to showcase in Microsoft’s new experimental art site.
Yuko Shimizu’s PS96 Bronx mural
As part of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity organization whose mission it is to fight poverty in New York City, Lost At E Minor contributor and in-demand illustrator in her own right, Yuko Shimizu — in collaboration with designer Stefan Sagmeister — recently completed an eleven panel mural at PS96 in The Bronx. Read more
Obama’s loss traced to Yuko Shimizu
My friend and artist Emily Gearhart just sent me this video. It’s probably the funniest video I have ever seen. Oh, what a great way to remind your friends to vote. You can customise it with your friend’s name and then send it out them. Fun, fun, fun.
Also by ZOLTON
Ok, so I’m wearing this t-shirt right now. It’s by Singapore-based fashion label Hooked Clothing, and it’s just about my favorite tee at the moment. Why? Why not. Tees are fun and Hooked has me hooked. Read more
Following on from the People of Walmart website, comes People Of Public Transit: ‘The public bus and subway systems are littered with amazing photo opportunities. Many of us have been sitting alone witnessing something amazing and only wishing we could share the experience with our friends. Well now you can!’ Read more
Milk and Honey necklace by Stephanie Simek
Milk and honey, an indubitable pair. In this necklace by Stephanie Simek, a golden honeycomb beeswax pendant is encased in plastic and hangs from an oxidized sterling silver chain. The links are interwoven with a milk protein-based fiber. We have it for sale in our online store.
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Swedish-born Linn Olofsdotter has not only moved around the world, she’s also shifted her career from graphic design to motion graphics, before working as a senior art director at a Boston advertising agency. Currently Olofsdotter works independently creating artwork for a number of clients — including Levis and Spin Magazine — in the fashion, advertising and editorial fields.
Recently formed hip-hop duo, Rootbeer (Pigeon John and Flynn Adam), have just dropped a super fresh piece of audio pie right in your kitchen. Influenced by artists such as MGMT, N.E.R.D and A Tribe Called Quest, Rootbeer offer up an edgy and unfeigned lyrical style. Turn up their debut release, The Pink Limousine EP, to eleven. You’ll find it impossible not to make shapes.
New York-based Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu has been featured on Lost At E Minor several times over the past couple of years. I love the sense of drama her work conveys, the apparent colour clashes that somehow gel despite pre-existing rules about their compatibility. We checked in with her to see what she’s been up to of late: ‘I just came back from a week in Georgian Bay in Canada. No internet, no cell phone reception for a week. It was fantastic! Now I am getting ready for a group show at Visual Arts Gallery in New York that opens in September. I am creating two new 40” x 60” drawings. I’m also slowly refurbishing my website here and there’. Read more
Who says the Swedes have got a monopoly on seasonal ice hotels? This one in Kemi, northern Finland, is the world’s largest snow castle, standing seventeen metres high and with walls that are 1,100 metres long. It has restaurants, an art gallery, a hotel and a chapel. In fact, since opening in the early 1990s, it’s been quite a hit for tourists to get married at the snow chapel. Hmmm, now that would be a frosty start to any marriage. Read more
Andrew Fagan, lead singer of The Mockers, the poppiest New Zealand band of the 80s, came around to my place once when I was an impressionable 10-year old with stars in my eyes and a head full of shiny, shiny melodies. Read more
Alfred Hitchcock’s icy heroines inspired Yeojin Bae’s Autumn Winter 09 collection. Its 40s noir meets modern day muse with seductive tailoring and asymmetric style. Yeojin Bae’s signature has become ultra-feminine shapes contrasted with coveted tailored separates Unravelled shapes are expertly tailored. Raw edge silk blouses have dipping necklines and are worn boxy and loose. Wool Angora overcoats feature a dramatic bias cut hem and buckled flare sleeve in black or herringbone. Flame red chiffon falls delicately into an asymmetric wrap skirt, as figure hugging stretch leggings bring billowing shapes back into the body. Read more
LA’s premier art and design magzine, Arkitip, has gone all out with the ‘free’ giveaway for issue no. 0045 and has included a 9″ x 12″ Evan Hecox 2-color silk screen print signed by the artist! Read more
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
Forget battery powered vehicles. Cars made from ice are the future of transportation: no pollution, no honking horns, no painful rap music blasting out of souped up stereos. And if they melt, they melt. You just swim the rest of the way down the slipstream.
Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more
Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.
Wolfmother. Rock n roll. Mystical lyrics. Heavy riffs. They have a new album out, Cosmic Egg, and we have five copies to giveaway, along with their debut album. To enter, tell us your favorite Wolfmother song and the city you live in. Yo! Two fingered salute. Read more
Originating in Shanghai, the Feiyue sneaker first appeared in the 1920s. Made of light material, the shoe has crossed continents, arriving in Europe in 2006 where it was picked up by a team of French enthusiasts, fascinated by sneakers and urban culture. Read more
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.
