Maki Kawakita’s fashion photography
If I was a fashion photographer instead of an illustrator, I would probably be Maki Kawakita, or at least be like her. And it’s not because we are both Japanese. I definitely relate to the strong sense of design, composition, angles and color she uses, and most of all, I like how she slips in a funny sense of humor into her fashion photography. I saw some of her work in a show called Click Chic last year, and it was amazing.
Tagged: Japan, Japanese photographers, portraits
RELATED
Hidden descrimination in Japan
Photographer Masaru Goto has an interesting series of portraits up at Global Compassion that show every day Burakumin, an ethnically Japanese group of people descended from the untouchables of the feudal Japanese caste system. Read more
We featured Bruce Osborn’s fascinating photo series, Oyako, a little while back on Lost At E Minor. Osborn lives in both Los Angeles and Tokyo, where he works as a commercial photographer and directs TV commercials and music videos. This shot is one of my favourites from this series that looks at the relationships between Japanese parents and their children, running the gamete of society ‘including Kabuki actors, punk musicians, policemen, Buddhist monks, and porno actresses’.
The photography of Lily Nance engages the arresting vulnerability of youth in a way that only the perverse and loving reaction of the subject to its inquisitive observer really can.
Also by YUKO SHIMIZU
Dear Japan art event in New York
Come out to a gallery in Soho, New York, on Saturday afternoon and purchase art for your home for a good cause. The one evening event Dear Japan has been organized by a group of Japanese artists who live in New York. It features 170 illustrators and fine artists, and all the works are $200 or under. It’s a small portion of what most of the participating artists would normally sell their work for. Of course, I am donating for this good cause, too. Read more
BLOW UP: featuring Hanuka, Shimizu, Weber
Three illustrators from vastly different backgrounds — Sam Weber (Canada), Yuko Shimizu (Japan), and Tomer Hanuka (Israel) — are meeting at the crossroads of a distinct American aesthetic to examine their new-found artistic voices through personal mythologies, broken narratives and remixed identities. Each of the illustrators featured as part of BLOW UP (running at New York’s Society of Illustrators until October 16) created new works to be shown for the first time in this exhibition. Read more
How could you not like these crazy hair prints by Shoplifter, the artistic genius behind Bjork’s Medulla cover art hair sculpture. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (1)
HAVE YOUR SAY
Graphic designer and photographer Mike Esparza paints superheroes in the style of Picasso — skewed proportions, and wonky eyes, extra facial features. They’re actually pretty hilarious. Read more
The newest design in bike fashion, as seen on the streets of Saarbrücken, leaves no wishes open for those who like a colorful appearance while being on the way on two wheels. Is it practical? Probably not. But it’s funny all the same. Read more
I spent the formative first six years of my life in Wellington, New Zealand, a beautiful windswept city framed by a magnificent harbour in one direction and a stunning collection of green, rolling hills in the other. It was here, on a return visit many years later and deep amongst the clipped accents and ruddy faces of the weather-beaten locals, that I stumbled upon the vast catalogue of the then Dunedin based record label Flying Nun. And what a roster of acts they housed — The Chills, The Bats, The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, and my favourite guitar-pop band, Straitjacket Fits. Read more
I almost had a heart attack the first time I entered Published Art. And I’m not even an architecture and design nut. This place is the shiz. As the name of the store suggests, Published Art is art published in book form. Their spectacular array of art, design and architecture books will bring a tear to the eye of any admirer of beauty. For Published Art, less is more. They make sure that they only keep the latest titles in stock so that every single one of their gorgeous hardcover books can be viewed from any part of the store. Read more
I’m loving the wild and wonderful work of graphic artist Zansky. Working in silkscreen, letterpress, and woodcut, Zansky has his finger on the pulse of some acidic heartbeat, pumping out some freaky imagery for the masses. Read more
Last weekend I went to the Golden West in Baltimore to check out the What Cheer? Brigade, a marching band from Providence. I wasn’t expecting much, but when they opened with a cover of Slayer’s Raining Blood, my knees buckled. I think I could hear a musak version of that riff, and I’d still bang my head. The rest of the band’s set was just as riotous, with people dancing so hard, you’d think we were at Mardi Gras. I haven’t had that much fun at a show in ages.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
With her collection of Skinover gloves, Rotterdam-based artist and sculptor Silvia B has taken a somewhat natural approach to the task of keeping hands warm — warts and all.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
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
Mathematics? Leave me out. Fashematics? Now you’re talking! This gem of a site is a runway equation that adds up to a whole lot of wonderful.
Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more
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
Honest Food Preparation Instructions
Yes, we’ve all been there: the chinese food from last week that still looks edible amongst the bare surrounds of an empty fridge. But really, we shouldn’t. Just let it be. Or College Humor will expose you! Read more
Set up in 2011, Rebel Unlit is a printing collaboration between London based Artists Neil Butler and Shanney Mulcahy. They make short run screen-printed t-shirts and limited edition prints from their studio in East London. All the t shirts are fair traded and printed by hand and, as a result, each one is unique. 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.
Belle said | 14 March, 2008
Wow.. these are really great…